S  \  \  I  o 


U.  S.  DEPAR'l  MENT   ( >r   AGRICULTUR 

OFFICE  OF  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS     BULLBTIU  NO.  120. 

A  .   C       T  i  :  I  I  E 


im{()(  i:i:i)i.\ 


SEVENTH    ANNEAL    ME 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  WDRKEI1S. 


Washington.   I).   C;  .Iink  24,  25,   and  26,    L90£. 


KIMTK1)     BY 


.V.    (  '.     Tl.TK     AM)    D.    .J.    JDRpSBY, 
/'or  tin   ojliii  i,f  Experiment  ikatixm*, 


J-ur  the  Association. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOT  E  R  N  M  B  N  T    PRI  N  TING     OFPIC  E 

19  02. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICU 

OFFICE  OF  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS— BULLETIN 

A.    C.    TRUE.    Dii 


UR] 


PROCEEDIN 


SEVENTH    ANNUAL   MEET 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  WORKERS, 


Washington.  D.  C,  June  24,  25,  and  26,  1902. 


KDITKI)     I',Y 


Au.    C.    TRTJIC    .VXD    13.    .1.    CROSBY 

For  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations, 


G-.    C.    CREEI.MAN, 
fin-  tlit  Association. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING    OFFICE 

19  0  2. 


OFFICE  OF  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 

A.  C.  TRUE,  Ph.  D..  Director. 

E.  W.   ALLEN,  Ph.  D.,  Assistant  Director  and  Editor  of  Experiment  Station 
Record. 
W.  H.  Beal,  B.  A..  M,  E..  Chief  of  Editorial  Division. 

EDITORIAL   DEPARTMENTS. 

Chemistry.  Dairy  Farming,  and  Dairying.— E.  W.  Allen  and  H.  "W.  Lawson. 
Meteorology,  Fertilizers  and  Soils  (including methods  of  analysis),  and  Agricul- 
tural Engineering. — W.  H.  Beal. 
Botany  and  Diseases  of  Plants.— Walter  H.  Evans.  Ph.  D. 
Foods  and  Animal  Production.— C.  F.  Langworthy.  Ph.  D. 
Field  Crops.— J.  I.  Schulte. 

Entomology  and  Veterinary  Science. — E.  V.  Wilcox.  Ph.  D. 
Horticulture. — C.  B.  Smith. 
Agricultural  Institutions. — D.  J.  Crosby. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

office  of  Experiment  stations, 
Washington,  I).  C,  October  20,  1902. 
Sik:  I  haw  the  honor  to  transmil  herewith,  and  to  recommend  for 
publication  as  Bulletin  No.  L20  of  this  Office,  a  reporl  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Association  of 
Farmers'  [nstitute  Workers,  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  June  24,  25, 
and  26, 1902.  The  membership  of  this  association  comprises  the  super- 
intendents of  farmers'  institutes  in  the  different  States,  and  it  is  thus 
broadly  representative  of  the  farmers'  institute  movement. 

Respectfully,  A.  C.  True, 

Director. 
Hon.  James  AYilsox, 

Secretary  of  A  gricuttv/re. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Officers  and  members  of  the  association 7 

Constitution  of  the  association .  8 

By-laws (.» 

Proposed  amendments  to  the  constitution. 10 

Proceedings . . .  11 

Address  of  welcome.     By  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Brigham,  Assistant  Secretary 

of  Agriculture 11 

Response  to  address  of  welcome.     By  W.  C.  Latta,  Lafayette,  Ind 13 

President's  address.     By  William  L.  Amoss,  Benson,  Md  . . . 14 

Five-minute  reports  from  States  and  Provinces 15 

Alabama.     By  C.  A.  Cary,  Auburn 15 

California.     By  M.  E.  Jaffa,  Berkeley 16 

Delaware.     By  Wesley  Webb,  Dover ...    ..   ... 17 

Florida.     By  H.  E.  Stockbridge,  Lake  City 17 

Illinois.     By  J.  H.  Coolidge,  Galesburg 20 

Indiana.     By  W.  C.  Latta,  Lafayette 21 

Kentucky.     By  I.  B.  Nail,  Frankfort 23 

Maryland.     By  William  L.  Amoss,  Benson . 25 

Ontario.     By  G.  C.  Creelman,  Toronto 26 

South  Carolina.     By  J.  E.  Tindall,  Silver 28 

West  Virginia.     By  J.  C.  Thompson,  Charleston 30 

Wisconsin.     By  George  McKerrow,  Madison 31 

Alaska,  Hawaii.  Porto  Rico.     By  A.  C.  True,  Office  of  Experiment 

Stations,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 33 

Louisiana.     By  J,  G.  Lee,  Baton  Rouge 34 

Michigan.     By  L.  R.  Taft,  Agricultural  College 35 

New  Jersey.     By  E.  B.  Voorhees,  New  Brunswick 37 

North  Carolina.     By  S.  L.  Patterson,  Raleigh 40 

Ohio.     By  W.  W.  Miller.  Columbus 41 

Washington.    By  W.  J.  Spillman,  Agrostologist  Bureau  of  Plant 

Industry,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, .. 43 

Report  of  the  treasurer 44 

Address  of  R.  W.  Silvester,  of  Maryland  , 45 

Address  of  Hon.  James  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture 46 

Appointment  of  committees 53 

Election  of  officers •">"> 

Place  of  next  meeting 54 

Revision  of  the  constitution . 54 

Report  of  committee  on  resolutions 56 

Government  distribution  of  seeds 5*3 

Time  of  next  meeting  of  the  association 57 

Cooperation  between  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  and  institute 

workers 57 


Page. 

Papers,  addresses,  and  discussions 58 

The  farmers'  institute  worker 59 

The  farmers"  institnte  as  a  factor  in  creating  a  desire  for  an  agricultural 

education.     68 

The  farmers'  institnte  as  a  promoter  of  a  closer  intimacy  between  farml- 
and experiment  stations > 

Teaching  agriculture  in  the  public  schools  84 
How  may  the  fanners"  organizations  hasten  the  teaching  of  agricul- 
ture in  the  public  schools 89 

Teaching  domestic  science  in  the  rural  districts 91 

The  farmers'  institnte  as  a  medium  for  developing  the  mutual  inter*  - 
and  relations  of  farmers  and  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture   102 

The  relation  of  railroads  to  agriculture 107 

Agriculture  in  rural  schools.     By  E.  P.  Powell,  of  New  York 109 

The  judging  of  live  stock  as  farmers"  institute  work 113 

Index  of  names 119 


OFFICERS  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 


President. 

W.  C.  Latta,  of  Lafayette,  Ind. 

Vice-President. 

J.  G.  Lee,  of  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Secretary-Treasurer. 

G.  C.  Creelman,  of  Toronto,  Ontario. 

Executive  Committee. 

The  President  and  the  Secretary-Treasurer,  ex  officio;  S.  L.  Patterson,  of 
North  Carolina;  A.  B.  Hostetter,  of  Illinois,  and  A.  L.  Martin,  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


DELEGATES  IN   ATTENDANCE   AT    \V ASIIIX* JTON. 

Alabama:  C.  A.  Cary,  Auburn. 

California:  M.  E.  Jaffa.  Berkeley:  A.  J.  Stubenranch,  Berkeley. 

Delaware:  Wesley  Webb,  Dover. 

District  of  Columbia:  James  Wilson.  J.  H.  Brigham,  A.  C.  True,  W.  J.  Spill- 
man,  P.  L.  Rickes,  G.  H.  Powell,  B.  M.  Duggar,  C.  B.  Smith.  W.  F.  Wight, 
H.  E.  Van  Deman,  J.  R.  Laughlin,  Miss  E.  S.  Jacobs,  Washington. 

Florida:  H.  E.  Stockbridge,  Lake  City. 

Illinois:  J.  H.  Coolidge.  Galesburg;  A.  B.  Hostetter.  Springfield. 

Indiana:  W.  C.  Latta.  Lafayette. 

Kentucky:  I.  B.  Nail,  Frankfort. 

Louisiana:  W.  R.  Dodson,  Baton  Rouge;  J.  G.  Lee,  Baton  Rouge. 

Maryland:  R.  W.  Silvester,  College  Park;  H.  J.  Patterson.  College  Park:  W.  L. 
Amoss.  Benson;  F.  H.  Blodgett,  College  Park:  H.  B.  McDonnell,  College 
Park;  G.  L.  Stewart,  Baltimore;  W.  T.  L.  Taliaferro.  College  Park. 

Michigan:  L.  R.  Taft,  Agricultural  College. 

Mississippi:  J.  C.  Hardy,  Agricultural  College. 

New  Jersey:  E.  B.  Voorhees,  New  Brunswick. 

New  York:  W.  S.  Myers,  New  York;  J.  S.  Meng,  New  York;  B.  Von  Herff,  Neiv 
York. 

North  Carolina:  B.  W.  Kilgore,  West  Raleigh;  S.  L.  Patterson,  Raleigh;  W.F. 
Massey,  Raleigh. 

Ohio:  W.  W.  Miller,  Columbus. 

Ontario:  G.  C.  Creelman.  Toronto:  C.  C.  James.  Toronto. 

Pennsylvania:  John  Hamilton.  State  College;  A.  L.  Martin,  Harrisburg. 

South  Carolina:  H.  S.  Hartzog.  Clemson  College;  G.  E.  Nesom,  Clemson  College; 
J.  E.  Tindall,  Felder. 

Virginia:  Miss  S.  E.  Breed,  Norfolk. 

West  Virginia:  J.  O.  Thompson.  Charleston;  W.  D.  Zinn.  Philippi. 

Wisconsin:  George  McKerrow,  Madison. 

1 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION". 


Article  I. 

NAME. 


This  organization  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  The  American  Association  of 
Farmers*  Institute  Workers. 

Article  II. 

OFFICERS. 

The  officers  shall  consist  of  a  president,  vice-president,  and  secretary-treasurer. 
to  be  elected  by  ballot. 

Article  III. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Any  active  worker  in  the  fanners'  institutes  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
may  Income  a  regular  member  of  this  association  on  payment  of  the  annual  dues, 
and  is  entitled  to  one  vote.  A  delegate  member  representing  the  State  Farmers" 
Institute  organization  shall  be  admitted  from  each  State  and  Province,  on  compli- 
ance with  the  by-laws,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  east  live  votes  on  any  question: 
Provided,  That  the  annual  membership  dues  of  the  person  shall  be  $1  and  that 
of  the  Stat 

Article  IV. 

DUES. 

The  annual  dues  of  delegate  members  shall  be  $5  for  six  representatives  of  each 
State.     The  annual  dues  of  members  not  delegates  shall  be  $1. 

Article  V. 

TERM    OF    OFFICE. 

The  term  of  office  of  the  officers  of  this  association  shall  be  for  one  year  from 
the  1st  day  of  January  next  following  their  election,  or  until  their  successors  are 
elected. 

Article  VI. 

DUTIES   OF   OFFICERS. 

The  duties  of  the  officers  of  this  association  shall  be  those  usually  performed  by 
officials  of  like  rank  in  similar  associations. 

Article  VLI. 

ASSOCIATE   MEMBERS. 

Asa     ate  members  of  this  organization  may  be  elected  from  time  to  time  upon 
the  presentation  of  their  names  by  some  member  of  the  association,  and  upon  their 
tng  the  votes  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 


Article  vm. 

DUBS  OF    LSSOCIATE    MlMl'.i 

Tlie  annual  dues  of  an  associate  member  shall  be  $1. 

Article  IX. 

Ii«»WER  OF  ASSOCIATE   KEMBEBS. 

Associate  members  shall  be  entitled  to  sit  in  all  of  the  sessionsof  the  association 
and  to  take  part  in  all  discussions,  but  shall  have  no  vote. 

Article  X. 

by-laws. 

This  association  shall  have  power  to  make  by-laws  from  time  to  time  not  incon- 
sistent with  this  constitution. 

Article  XI. 

EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 

There  shall  be  an  executive  committee  consisting  of  the  president  and  the  secre- 
tary-treasurer of  this  association,  ex  officio,  and  three  other  members  to  be  elected 
annually  by  ballot,  who  shall  meet  at  the  call  of  the  president  and  have  charge 
of  such  matters  of  business  relating  to  the  association  as  it  shall  be  necessary 
to  attend  to  in  the  interval  between  the  annual  meetings,  and  it  shall  be  their 
duty  to  report  such  action  as  they  may  take  to  the  next  regular  meeting  of  the 
association. 

Article  XII. 

CHANGE  IX  CONSTITUTION. 

This  constitution  shall  not  be  changed  except  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  at  a  regular  annual  meeting  held  one  year  from  the  date  on  which  the 
proposed  alteration  or  amendment  has  been  first  presented. 


BY-LAWS. 


(1)  The  time  of  meeting  of  this  organization  shall  be  fixed  by  the  association. 

(2)  Order  of  business: 

1 .  Calling  the  roll  of  membership. 

2.  Reading  of  minutes  of  previous  meeting. 

3.  Admission  of  new  members. 

4.  Reports  of  committees. 

5.  Election  of  officers. 

6.  Appointment  of  committees. 

7.  Unfinished  business. 

8.  New  business. 

9.  Adjournment. 


PROPOSED  AMENDMENTS  To  THE  CONSTITUTION. 


The  following  amendments  to  the  constitution  have  been  proposed  and  will  be 
voted  upon  at  the  eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  association  in  Toronto: 

Article  III. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

To  this  article,  as  it  now  reads,  the  addition  of  the  following  words  is  recom- 
mended: -Also  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  Office  of 
Experiment  Stations  of  that  Department  shall  each  he  entitled  to  representation 
in  the  association  with  the  full  privileges  of  delegate  membership." 

Article  VII. 

ASSCM  JIATE   MEMBERS. 

It  is  proposed  that  for  the  word  "  associate  '*  the  word  •'honorary  "  be  substi- 
tuted. BO  that  Article  VII  will  then  read: 

HONORARY    MEMBERS. 

Honorary  members  of  this  organization  may  be  elected  from  time  to  time  upon 
the  presentation  of  their  names  by  some  member  of  the  association,  and  upon  th  :ir 
receiving  the  votes  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

Article  VIII. 

DUl  3S<  X3IATE  MEMBERS. 

It  is  proposed  that  this  article  be  stricken  out  of  the  constitution. 

Article  IX. 

POWER   i^V    ASSOCIATE  MEMBERS. 

It  is  proposed  to  amend  this  article  by  changing  the  word  "  associate  ''to  "  hon- 
orary."    The  article  as  amended  will  read: 

POWER  OF  HONORARY  MEMBERS. 

Honorary  members  shall  be  entitled  to  sit  in  all  of  the  sessions  of  the  association 
and  to  take  part  in  all  discussions,  but  shall  have  no  vote. 
10 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  ANNUM  MEETING  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION  OF  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  WORKERS. 


Afternoon  Session,  Tuesday,  June  24,  1002. 

The  association  was  called  to  order  in  the  parlors  of  the  National  Hotel,  Wash- 
ington. D.  C,  June  34,  1902,  at  %  p.  m.,  President  William  L.  Anioss.  of  Benson. 
Md.,  in  the  chair. 

On  motion  of  George  McKerrow,  of  Wisconsin,  the  president  was  directed  to 
appoint  a  committee  on  credentials,  to  be  composed  of  three  members. 

The  president  named  as  the  members  of  this  committee:  George  McKerrow.  of 
Wisconsin;  W.  C.  Latta.  of  Indiana;  and  G.  C.  Creelman,  of  Ontario;  and  instructed 
the  committee  to  meet  at  the  close  of  the  first  session. 

The  chair  then  introduced  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Brigham,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
Agriculture,  who  delivered  the  following  address:  . 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

By  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Brigham,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  The  pleasant  duty  has 
been  assigned  to  me  of  bidding  you  welcome  to  the  capital  city  of  the  nation, 
although  it  hardly  seems  necessary  to  welcome  you  to  what  is  already  your  own. 

You  will  be  welcomed  by  many  of  our  citizens.  Those  who  are  engaged  in 
business,  who  may  profit  somewhat  by  your  appearance  among  us,  will  doubtless 
extend  a  cordial  welcome. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  will  undoubtedly  be  delighted  to  see  you 
sometime  during  your  visit.  He  is  a  man  of  the  people  and  is  glad  to  meet  the 
people  face  to  face  and  to  become  better  acquainted  with  them.  The  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  your  States  will  be  glad  to  welcome  you,  and  will  try 
to  make  it  pleasant  for  you,  and  any  suggestions  that  you  may  make  in  the  matter 
of  keeping  "  fences  "  in  repair  at  home  will  be  well  received  by  them. 

But  I  can  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  the  Department  of  Agriculture  extends 
to  you  a  very  cordial  and  hearty  welcome.  We  recognize  the  importance  of  the 
work  in  which  you  are  engaged.  We  know  something  of  it.  The  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  and  his  subordinates  are  trying  to  do  something  for  agriculture. 
I  believe  they  are  doing  good  work  for  the  practical  farmers — for  the  men  who 
till  the  soil.  The  Department's  employees  and  the  head  of  the  Department  recog- 
nize that  you  can  render  to  the  Department  valuable  assistance,  and  they  bid  you 
a  cordial  and  hearty  welcome,  expecting  no  personal  benefit  from  your  meeting 
here. 

Your  work  is  of  very  great  importance  to  the  practical  farmer.  You  come  to 
him  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home.  You  bring  to  him  new  ideas.  You  give  to  him 
valuable  information.  You  help  him  in  various  ways  to  win  success  on  the  farm. 
The  progressive  farmer  will  be  greatly  benefited  by  institutes  held  in  his  vicinity, 
and  the  man  not  so  progressive — and  we  have  such  men  on  the  farms,  you 

11 


12 

know — seeing  the  results  that  follow  the  improved  methods  adopted  by  the  man 
who  takes  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  acquire  knowledge  and  informa- 
tion, will  be  spurred  to  do  better  work  on  the  farm. 

We  all  realize  that  agriculture  is  the  foundation  interest  of  our  country.  The 
annual  product  of  the  American  farms  amounts  to  more  than  (4,700,000,000. 
We  can  have  no  general  prosperity  in  this  country  unless  the  farmer  succeeds  in 
his  labor  on  the  farm.  All,  then,  whatever  may  be  their  calling  in  life,  are 
greatly  interested  in  any  work  that  builds  up  and  protects  this  great  foundation 
interest  of  our  country. 

The  work  of  the  farmers'  institute  is  not  confined  to  giving  practical  informa- 
tion or  scientific  information  in  regard  to  the  growing  of  crops.  Of  course  you 
will  do  that  work.  You  will  help  the  farmers.  You  will  tell  them  why  and 
wherefore  such  things  should  be  done  upon  the  farm.  You  will  have  men  who 
are  qualified  to  do  that;  but  still  your  work  is  not  confined  to  that.  The  most 
important  part  of  your  work,  in  my  judgment,  is  the  influence  which  you  will 
exert  upon  the  farmer  himself.  You  will  wake  him  up.  You  will  broaden  and 
develop  the  man  who  tills  the  soil.  You  will  make  him  not  only  a  better  farmer, 
but  a  better  citizen  of  a  grand  Republic.  Do  not  be  afraid  in  conducting  your 
work  to  give  some  attention  to  such  things.  You  will  not,  of  course,  engage  in 
partisan  discussions,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  these  questions  of  political 
economy,  which  are  of  vital  importance,  should  not  be  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  farmers  by  being  discussed  in  the  farmers'  institute. 

The  farmer,  as  a  rule,  has  not  in  my  judgment  been  quite  as  active  as  he  should 
have  been  in  managing  and  directing  the  affairs  of  this  great  nation.  Farmers 
generally  are  modest  and  retiring  men.  They  almost  have  to  be  forced  to  the 
front  if  they  come  there  at  all.  Of  course  modesty  is  commendable  at  times,  but 
yet  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  every  individual  citizen  of  our  country  who  is 
clothed  with  sovereign  power  shall  have  the  courage  to  use  that  power  wisely 
and  well  for  the  protection  of  his  own  interests  and  the  interests  of  his  country. 

Some  of  us  remember  the  terrible  struggle  of  a  few  years  ago.  Some  of  you 
participated  in  that  struggle.  You  will  remember  the  awful  price  that  was  paid 
to  preserve  the  life  of  the  nation.  Had  the  people  on  the  farms  and  in  other 
industrial  pursuits  in  our  country  been  well  informed  upon  the  important  ques- 
tions that  divided  our  people  and  set  them  at  war,  one  section  with  another,  it 
might  have  been  possible  to  avoid  that  terrible  struggle.  There  are  elements  of 
unrest  in  our  country  to-day,  arising  out  of  differences  between  great  aggrega- 
tions of  capital  and  organizations  of  labor,  around  which  must  be  thrown,  for  the 
protection  of  the  individual,  the  strong  arm  of  the  law;  and  where  will  you  turn 
for  men  who  can  furnish  the  political  power  to  secure  wise  legislation  and  the 
just  enforcement  of  the  law,  if  not  to  the  farmers,  who  live  out  in  the  peaceful 
homes  of  our  country? 

These  combinations  and  organizations  wield  a  mighty  political  power.  All  of 
us  appreciate  that  it  will  be  necessary  perhaps  to  guard  against  the  abuse  of  this 
power.  And  where  do  the  best  minds  of  the  nation  turn  for  help  to  meet  this 
danger  except  to  the  man  who  lives  in  his  home  and  loves  his  home  on  the  farm? 
It  is  your  duty  and  your  privilege,  gentlemen,  as  you  pass  over  the  broad  fields  of 
our  country,  as  you  come  in  contact  with  these  men.  to  try  to  instruct  them  along 
these  lines  and  inspire  them  with  a  sense  of  duty,  and  kindle  anew  their  patri- 
otism and  encourage  them  to  use  their  power  at  the  ballot  box  and  elsewhere  for 
the  protection  of  all  the  rights  of  all  the  people. 

I  may  have  departed  somewhat  from  the  ordinary  lines  pursued  by  those  who 
deliver  an  address  of  welcome.  I  may  have  referred  to  some  matters  that  seem 
to  be  foreign  to  this  meeting:  but  I  have  spent  the  best  years  of  my  life  thinking 
and  working  on  topics  of  this  character.     I  did  not  hope  for  fame  or  glory  or 


18 

riches  in  the  many  lines  in  which  men  win  them,  bnt  it  was  my  hope  and  my 
desire  that  my  influence,  whatever  it  was  worth,  should  operate  in  the  direction 
of  developing,  broadening,  and  uplifting  this  mighty  army  of  men  who  are 
engaged  in  tilling  the  soil.  I  recognize  the  fact,  gentlemen,  thai  these  associa- 
tions to  which  I  have  referred, these  organizations  that  exist  all  around  us  to-day. 
wield  a  mighty  power,  or  can  do  it,  in  the  field  of  politics;  hut  if  we  can  marshal 
this  army  of  men  who  are  tilling  the  soil  so  that  they  will  cast  fearless  and 
intelligent  ballots  that  shall 

' "  Come  down  as  still 

As  snowflakes  fall  upon  the  sod, 
And  execute  a  freeman's  will 

As  lightning  does  the  will  of  God," 

I  think  we  need  not  fear  for  the  future  of  our  country. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  Republic  is  approaching  its  end;  that  there  is  any 
danger  that  a  strong  man  or  body  of  men,  corporations  or  organizations,  can 
grasp  and  retain  control  of  this  powerful  Republic.  I  am  not  afraid  of  it.  I  do 
not  believe  it.  I  know  something  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  have  lived  on  the 
farms  of  our  country  in  the  past  and  who  are  growing  up  there  to-day.  and  I  feel 
that  when  the  time  comes  that  their  power  is  needed  they  will  be  ready;  and  you. 
gentlemen,  in  your  work  can  do  a  great  deal  of  good  along  these  lines.  I  hope 
that  when  you  are  engaged  in  the  work  assigned  to  you  by  those  who  direct  the 
institute  you  will  not  forget  to  drop  a  word  here  and  there  that  shall  encourage 
the  farmer  and  make  him  feel  that  he  is  not  a  powerless  and  helpless  creature: 
that  he  is  not  only  a  citizen  but  a  sovereign  ruler  of  the  grandest  nation  in  all  the 
world,  and  all  that  is  needed  is  for  him  to  use  his  power  wisely  and  well  at  the 
right  time  and  in  the  right  place. 

Now,  gentlemen,  in  conclusion,  I  again  cordially  welcome  you  to  the  capital 
city  of  the  nation.  The  members  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  will  be  glad 
to  cooperate  with  you  to  make  your  visit  a  pleasant  and  profitable  one.  We  want 
to  help  you,  and  more  than  all  else  we  want  you  to  help  us. 

RESPONSE   TO  ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

By  W.  C.  Latta,  Lafayette,  Ind. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  I  feel  that  my  thanks  are  due  to  the  pro- 
gramme committee  for  honoring  me,  as  they  have  done,  by  selecting  me  to  respond 
to  the  greeting  which  has  just  been  delivered  in  our  hearing.  A  recent  and  rather 
severe  illness  leaves  me  in  no  condition  to  perform  that  duty  at  all  adequately, 
which  I  sincerely  regret,  and  yet  I  am  very  glad  to  do  the  best  I  can. 

I  wish  to  say  to  Colonel  Brigham  and  to  his  colleagues  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  that  we  thank  them  for  these  kindly  words  of  greeting.  They  have 
the  ring  of  truth  and  sincerity.  Some  of  us  have  known  Colonel  Brigham  out 
in  the  institute  field,  and  we  know  that  our  cause  has  been  so  much  in  common 
in  the  past  that  we  were  prepared  to  expect  just  this  warm,  hearty,  kindly  greet- 
ing which  has  been  tendered  to  us.  I  am  sure  that  this  greeting  includes  not 
only  those  who  come  to  us  from  within  the  States,  but  also  our  brothers  on  the 
north,  loyal  subjects  in  the  Dominion  of  the  King.  They  are  here,  interested  in 
this  great  problem  that  concerns  us,  and  we  have  found  them  putting  their 
shoulders  right  to  the  wheel  in  everything  that  makes  for  progress  in  agriculture. 
I  am  glad  to  say  in  their  behalf,  as  well,  that  we  are  very  glad  indeed  to  be  here. 
We  are  glad  to  come  to  the  city  of  Washington,  with  its  beautiful  buildings, 
with  its  historic  associations,  with  its  departments,  which  contain  so  much  of 


14 

Bt  to  us.  To  this  pleasanl  city  of  the  natioa's  Government,  where  the 
leaders  of  the  nation  are  even  now  gathered  and  where  the  great  leaders  in  the 
of  agricnlture  are  also  gathered*  we  arc  glad  bo  come  to  confer  with  you. 
We  are  here  by  your  invitation  given  a  year  ago.  It  seems  to  us  fitting  that  you 
should  have  invited  us  here.  Standing,  as  it  were,  upon  the  ramparts,  with  a 
broader  outlook,  studying  tin;  great  agricultural  currents,  asking  "  What  of  the 
future':"  it  seems  fitting  you  should  invite  us  who  are  out  in  the  field  to  come 
here  that  we  may  confer  together.  It  seems  very  fitting  indeed  that  we  should 
come  here,  that  we  may  get  from  contact  with  these  men,  our  leaders,  that  broader 
outlook  which  will  deepen  our  enthusiasm  and  our  interest,  and  qualify  us  afresh 
for  thf  work  we  have  to  do. 

The  programme  that  has  been  prepared  for  our  consideration  on  this  occasion 
deals  with  a  number  of  great  questions  which  will  bring  up  the  relations  of  the 
great  agricultural  interests — those  that  center  here  and  those  that  ramify  through- 
out all  the  country.  It  seems  proper  that  we  should  at  this  place  take  up  these 
broader  questions  growing  out  of  our  relations,  the  understanding  of  which  will 
help  us  to  work  together  more  unitedly  and  more  efficiently. 

Of  the  various  great  uplifting  agencies  in  behalf  of  agriculture,  I  believe  there 
is  none  greater,  none  doing  a  more  aggressive,  a  broader,  and  more  helpful  work 
at  the  present  time  than  the  farmers"  institute.  I  recognize  it  as  a  very  great 
work  indeed,  although  I  am  associated  with  other  lines  of  work.  While  it  is  a 
great  work,  it  is  only  one  of  many  agencies  to  this  common  end  ;  and  how  fit- 
ting that  we  should  come  together  here,  with  leaders  of  our  nation,  those  who 
have  been  studying  agriculture  in  a  large  way  for  many  years,  to  discuss  these 
se\  eral  agencies  for  the  promotion  of  this  cause. 

In  the  consideration  of  these  questions,  may  the  keynote  which  has  already  been 
struck  by  Colonel  Brigham  in  his  words  of  welcome  reecho  again  and  again  in  our 
councils.  May  we  bring  to  the  consideration  of  these  questions  that  earnest, 
aggressive,  optimistic  spirit  which  he  has  himself  manifested. 

We  accept  your  words.  Colonel  Brigham.  as  coming  from  the  heart,  a  warm  big 
heart  beating  in  a  big  man,  and  we  shall  proceed  to  make  ourselves  at  home. 
While  we  must  reserve  some  time  for  our  discussion  here,  we  shall  be  delighted, 
as  the  opportunity  is  afforded  us.  to  go  about  your  city  and  inspect  the  various 
departments  and  the  many  other  objects  of  interest.  And  we  hope  we  shall  have 
you  and  others  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  with  us  throughout  our  sessions. 

Again  permit  me,  Colonel  Brigham.  to  thank  you  and  your  colleagues  for  these 
words  of  greeting. 

Mr.  Brigham.  Mr.  President.  I  want  to  thank  Professor  Latta  for  calling  my 
attention  to  my  omission  in  regard  to  the  visitors  from  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 
I  recognize  the  fact,  as  all  of  you  do.  that  our  brothers  in  Canada  are  doing  some 
of  the  very  best  practical  work.  It  comes  as  near  to  the  farmer  as  any  that  is 
being  done.     We  will  help  one  another  in  the  future. 

PRESIDENT'S  ADDRESS. 

By  William  L.  Amoss.  Benson.  Md. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  shall  try  not  to  intrude  unnecessarily  on  your  lim- 
ited time.  I  have  found,  when  conducting  institutes,  that  nothing  draws  and 
holds  patrons  better  than  to  give  them  what  they  came  to  get,  and  that  without 
delay.  For  those  who  are  attending  the  meeting  of  the  association  for  the  first 
time,  I  will  say  our  purpose  in  meeting  is  to  know  each  other,  to  learn  the  methods 
of  all  and  the  results  of  their  work.  The  meetings  give  us  an  opportunity  to 
criticise  the  pet  theories  of  our  members  and  tend  to  unify  our  plans  of  work.     A 


15 

historical  sketch,  with  our  constitution  and  by-laws,  will  be  found  in  Bulletin  No. 
110  of  the  <  Office  of  Experiment  Stations,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

The  farmers1  institute  is  the  bridge  thai  spans  the  chasm  between  the  theorist, 
the  experimenter,  and  the  farmer.  It  is  engaged  in  introducing  the  new  but  tried 
methods  of  making  available  na1  ore's  wealth  and  bringing  to  isolated  homes  that 
better  knowledge  of  Living  which  gives  health,  happiness,  and  prosperity. 

We  who  conduct  t  lie  work  meet  with  condil  ions  and  have  to  contend  wit  h  many 
forces  which  have  more  or  less  influence  on  our  progress  and.  as  I  believe,  on  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  One  of  these  forces  is  the  present  public  school  system. 
Has  not  the  time  arrived  when  we.  who  are  daily  closer  to  the  food  producers 
than  others  engaged  in  an  educational  work,  should  earnestly  protesi  against  a 
system  which  pitilessly  sends  into  the  world  a  man  or  a  woman  deceived  into 
believing  that  he  or  she  is  prepared  to  cope  with  the  forces  of  nature'.-  How  often 
we  sec  the  vain  attempts  of  such  to  convert  the  elements  in  the  soil.  How  often 
we  see  them  living-  on  the  products  of  another's  labor  while  they,  by  the  hard 
knocks  of  toil,  learn  nature's  laws  of  production.  How  often  we  see  them  become 
disheartened,  leave  the  old  homestead,  careworn,  possibly  penniless,  to  be  lost  in 
the  throng  of  a  city's  streets.  Can  we  have  this  panorama  before  us  and  hesitate 
to  press  down  the  brakes  by  a  full  expression  of  our  findings,  and  stop  this  mad 
haste  to  make  men  of  letters  of  all  who  step  across  the  threshold  of  our  public 
schools? 

On  our  programme  are  subjects  which  will  give  ample  opportunity  to  spread 
upon  the  pages  of  our  next  report  your  convictions,  your  experiences,  and  your 
remedies,  which  will  eventually  raise  the  standard  of  institute  work  by  preparing 
the  young  mind,  when  the  child  first  enters  the  schoolroom,  for  what  we  teach. 

Five-minute  reports  from  States  and  Provinces  were  then  proceeded  with  as 
follows : 

FIVE-MINTJTE  REPORTS  FROM  STATES  AND  PROVINCES. 

ALABAMA. 
By  C.  A.  Cary,  Auburn. 

This  report  is  not  made  with  the  idea  of  conveying  any  new  methods,  but 
rather  to  tell  you  what  we  are  doing  in  Alabama  with  very  limited  funds.  Organ- 
ized institutes  have  been  held  for  the  past  four  years  in  Alabama.  The  funds 
come  from  the  college  and  experiment  station.  We  received  $500  a  year  during 
the  first  two  years  and  $600  during  the  past  two  years.  With  these  funds  we 
have  held  in  four  years  64  one-day  institutes  in  55  counties,  with  a  total  attend- 
ance of  3,864,  and  an  average  attendance  of  60.  At  some  of  these  one-day  insti- 
tutes we  had  four  sessions,  at  others  three  sessions,  but  at  the  great  majority  we 
held  only  morning  and  afternoon  sessions. 

The  speakers  were  all  from  the  college  and  experiment  station,  except  in  a  few 
cases  where  some  local  help  was  secured.  In  Alabama,  where  great  variations  in 
soil  conditions  are  found,  visits  to  all  parts  of  the  State  by  the  experiment  station 
workers  were  of  great  value,  both  to  the  farmers  and  to  the  experiment  station 
workers.  Each  learned  the  other's  wants  and  needs.  Our  institutes  have  been 
held  chiefly  during  the  summer,  when  we  could  most  conveniently  attend  them, 
but  occasionally  meetings  have  been  held  at  other  times  during  the  year.  So  far 
our  institutes  have  been  of  great  value  to  the  college  and  station  and  to  the 
farmers  of  our  State.  In  fact  we  are  firmly  convinced  that  they  have  done  more 
to  improve  the  methods  in  farm  operations  and  stock  raising  than  any  of  the 
many  other  things  that  have  been  done  by  our  station  and  college.  Our  attend- 
ance appears  small,  but  interest  has  been  very  good,  and  the  farmers  we  have 
reached  have  taught  others  both  by  words  and  by  object  lessons. 


16 

CALIF*  >RNIA. 

By  M.  E.  .1  \\-\-\.  Bt  rkeley. 

Mb.  President,  Ladies,  \m>  Gentlemen:  We  have  been  holding  institntes  in 
( 'alifornia  for  the  past  ten  years.  During  1898  we  held  79  institutes.  In  1*98  and 
1899,  s<».  with  an  appropriation  of  $4,500.     Since  then  we  have  been  holding  about 

80  institutes  annually,  and  the  appropriation  lias  been  about  $4,000.  The  total 
attendance  during  the  last  year  was  between  20,000  and  25,000.  The  aim  is  to 
distribute  rinse  meetings  geographically,  bat  the  determining  factor  is  the ' '  spon- 
taneity of  the  applications  and  the  assurance  of  local  preparation." 

The  institute  staff  with  us  consists  of  a  superintendent,  who  is  professor  of 
agricultural  practice  of  the  University  of  California,  and  also  horticulturist  of 
the  agricultural  experiment  station;  two  conductors,  one  for  the  central  and 
northern  part  of  the  State  and  one  for  southern  California;  and  the  personnel  of 
the  agricultural  college  and  the  agricultural  experiment  station.  The  fund  con- 
si^- <>f  an  appropriation  of  about  84.000.  made  for  the  entire  State  by  the  board 
of  regents  of  the  University  of  California.  This  fund  is  used  for  paying  the 
salaries  of  the  two  conductors,  and  also  for  the  traveling  expenses  of  the  entire 
institute  staff,  and  for  postage,  stationery,  etc.  The  State  pays  all  the  expenses 
incidental  to  the  meetings,  with  the  exception  of  the  rent  of  the  hall,  the  printing 
of  programmes,  advertising,  etc..  which  expense  is  met  by  the  local  organization, 
which  is  sometimes  the  grange,  sometimes  the  farmers'  (dub.  and  at  others  a  local 
committee  representing  the  farmers  of  the  section.  The  meetings  consist  of  one 
or  two  day  sessions.  Any  locality  can  have  a  tw<  >-day  session  if  the  local  prepara- 
tion will  warrant  it.  The  morning  sessions  are  not  as  well  attended  as  are  those 
of  the  afternoon  and  evening,  the  evenings  being  generally  devoted  to  lighter 
subjects,  domestic  science  and  popular  topics.  At  the  morning  and  afternoon 
sessions  heavier  work  is  done. 

We  encourage  local  speakers,  and  do  not  consider  our  programmes  complete 
without  them,  because  in  nearly  every  instance  they  give  valuable  papers  or 
addresses.  We  also  like  to  have  the  cooperation  of  the  women,  as  they  have  given 
some  of  the  best  and  most  instructive  papers  presented  by  local  speakers. 

The  question  box  is  a  very  important  and  prominent  feature  of  the  institute, 
and  quite  often  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  discussions  of  the  meeting 
result  from  it. 

The  question  has  been  often  asked  us,  "  Does  the  institute  help  the  farmer?*"  I 
think  we  may  safely  say  "  yes."  We  see  it  in  a  great  many  ways:  for  instance, 
in  the  increased  mailing  list  of  our  bulletins,  and  also  in  the  increased  number  of 
letters  from  the  farmers  throughout  the  State.  Again,  the  institute  has  been  the 
means  of  bringing  nearer  together  the  farmers  of  the  State  and  the  agricultural 
experiment  station. 

We  are  not  satisfied  with  our  method  of  conducting  institutes  in  California. 
For  instance,  as  I  said  before,  the  only  salaries  paid  to  institute  workers  from  the 
fund  mentioned  above  are  those  of  the  conductors,  consequently,  in  order  to 
make  up  a  programme  the  attendance  of  the  personnel  of  the  agricultural  college 
and  the  experiment  station  is  necessitated.  This  is  certainly  not  conducive  to  the 
best  institute  work,  and  it  also  sadly  interferes  with  the  laboratory  and  lecture 
duties  of  the  professor  or  instructor,  who  is  thus  withdrawn  from  his  regular 
w<  >rk . 

We  should  have  trained  institute  speakers;  but  it  is  difficult  for  California  to 
procure  these,  for  several  reasons:  The  appropriation  is  small:  the  conditions  are 
s- »  varied  in  the  different  parts  of  the  State,  and  the  farmers'  needs  so  diverse,  that 
it  \v<>uld  be  almost  impossible  to  find  men  who  would  undertake  the  work  for  the 
entire  season,  which,  on  account  of  there  being  no  "  leisure  season  "  and  our  mild 
winter,  extends  throughout  the  college  year. 


17 

DELAWARE. 
By  \Yi>u  v  Webb,  Dover. 

Mr.  President  :  You  know  Delaware  is  a  very  large  State!  Bo  we  have  three 
independent  farmers' institute  organizations  in  the  state.  They  embrace  three 
counties,  one  standing  right  on  top  of  the  other — not  lying  side  by  side  in  a  friendly 

way — and  of  course  if  each  one  stands  on  the  Other,  all  art  ;i  little  jealous.  So 
when  the  legislature  was  asked  to  make  an  appropriation  for  farmer-'  institute-. 
it  said  "•  Yes.  we  will  give  each  county  $200,  and  each  county  shall  be  absolutely 
independent  of  everybody  else.  Take  it  and  do  what  you  please  with  it.  provided 
you  use  if  to  bold  farmers"  institutes.*"  That  is  all  the  legislature  said  about  it, 
except  that  no  officers  of  the  institute  and  no  committee,  or  anybody  else  con- 
nected with  if.  should  receive  one  single  cent  of  that  money  as  pay  for  his  work: 
that  the  money  should  be  used  for  paying  hall  rent,  securing  speakers,  etc.  But 
the  three  counties  have  cooperated  in  tins  work.  The  experiment  station  has 
been  prominent  in  it.  Dr.  Neale,  director  of  the  experiment  station,  has  had  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  it.  I  myself  have  been  superintendent  of  the  institutes  in 
Kent  County,  the  central  county;  and  last  winter  "the  two  lower  counties."'  as 
we  <all  them — Kent  and  Sussex — united  and  had  a  similar  meeting;  that  is,  we  had 
a  two  days'  meeting  in  Kent,  say  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  and  on  Thursday 
and  Friday  we  took  the  same  speakers  down  into  Sussex,  and  held  a  meeting 
there. 

In  all  these  meetings  we  have  endeavored  to  have  the  station  and  college 
men  well  represented.  We  have  endeavored  to  have  at  least  one  speaker  from  a 
distance,  a  man  competent  in  the  work,  and  then  we  have  depended  largely  upon 
our  own  home  men.  I  may  say  that  in  Delaware  we  have  some  college  men  who 
;  re  on  the  farm  and  who  have  made  a  success  of  it.  and  we  have  others  who  are 
not  college  men,  but  who  are  well-educated,  intelligent  men,  who  have  made  a 
success  of  their  work  practically,  in  all  its  details,  some  of  them  especially  so. 
Those  men  are  used  very  largely  in  the  institute  work. 

Besides  the  one-day  meetings  and  two-day  meetings,  we  have  held,  especially  in 
Kent  and  Sussex,  schoolhouse  meetings.  Very  nearly  every  farmer  in  the  State 
has  had  an  opportunity  to  go  to  a  farmers'  institute  in  his  own  school  district — in 
his  own  schoolhouse.  These  meetings  have  been  addressed  by  farmers  and  by 
station  men.  and  have  been  attended  as  a  rule  by  nearly  every  farmer  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  sometimes  by  many  farmers  of  the  neighboring  districts.  There  was 
an  average  attendance  a  year  ago  last  winter  of  about  30  at  these  schoolhouse 
meetings.  Of  course  that  is  not  a  large  attendance,  but  still  such  an  attendance 
for  meetings  of  that  sort  brought  something  to  every  man  in  the  county. 

We  have  had  some  women  speakers  and  we  intend  to  have  more.  We  have  had 
the  attendance  of  the  women  sometimes  and  we  intend  to  have  more  of  them. 
We  intend  to  make  a  greater  effort  to  secure  their  cooperation. 

FLORIDA. 

By  H.  E.  Stockbridge,  Lake  City. 

The  organization  and  direction  of  the  institute  work  in  Florida  is  placed  by  the 
State  law  in  the  hands  of  the  head  of  the  agricultural  department  of  the  State 
agricultural  college.  Aside  from  the  appropriation  of  $2,500  a  year  for  carrying 
on  the  work,  there  is  no  restriction  or  limitation  of  law;  there  is  not  even  a  reso- 
lution of  a  board  of  trustees.  The  sum  of  $2,500  is  simply  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  agricultural  college  to  be  expended  in  institute  work  at  the  discretion  of  the 
head  of  that  department.     That  is  all  the  organization  we  have  by  law. 

9953— No.  120—02 2 


18 

The  points  to  which  I  want  to  call  attention  as  to  the  details  of  our  work  are 
three.  In  the  first  place,  how  do  we  select  speakers  and  arrange  programmes? 
We  leave  the  matter  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  members  of  the  local  institutes. 

Our  plan  is  to  hold  one  institute  in  each  county,  with  a  county  chairman  to  stand 
for  the  work  in  his  county.     He  is  selected  by  the  head  of  the  institute  work;  and 

then  he  is  requested,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  local  committees  appointed  by 
him,  to  select  in  advance  from  a  large  list  i  irs  and  subjects  furnished  to 

him  the  subject  and  speakers  that  he  prefers.     Then  we  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  notify  the  speakers  and  to  endeavor  to  so  group  the  localities  and  the  da1 
to  minimize  the  expenses.     The  responsibility  lor  the  adaptation  of  the  work,  for 
the  selection  of  the  speakers,  and  for  the  suitability  of  the  subject  to  local  require- 
ments is  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  local  representative. 

The  next  point  I  want  to  mention  is  the  localization  of  the  work.  What  I  mean 
by  this  is  the  familiarity  of  the  speakers  with  the  local  conditions  that  are  to  con- 
front them  in  the  places  where  institutes  are  t<>  be  held.  In  a  somewhat  extended 
institute  experience  in  several  States  I  have  frequently  met  with  what  seemed  to 
me  a  misfortune  or  an  evil,  if  I  may  so  describe  it.  from  the  fact  that  frequently 
speakers  come  from  a  distance  and  are  unfamiliar  with  the  conditions  or  require- 
ments of  the  institute.  For  instance.  I  have  seen  speakers  from  the  very  western 
part  of  the  State  of  New  York  designated  to  attend  institutes  on  Long  Island  who 
went  there  for  the  first  time  when  they  appeared  at  the  farmers*  institute.  It 
seemed  to  me  impossible  for  people  situated  so  differently  as  the  best  representa- 
tives of  western  Xew  York  would  be  to  meet  the  local  requirements  of  Long 
Island. 

I  have  endeavored  so  far  as  possible  to  solve  this  problem,  and  have  especially 
considered  the  adaptation  of  particular  speakers  to  meet  the  wants  of  particular 
localities,  because  after  the  speakers  are  once  selected  they  are  supposed  to  be  able 
to  present  facts  and  materials  which  shall  be  of  use  in  a  given  locality  and  to 
familiarize  themselves  with  the  wants  of  that  locality  before  the  holding  of  the 
institute. 

We  designate  one  day  as  a  preliminary  day.  The  institute  workers  who  are 
expected  to  hold  an  institute  on  a  given  day  in  a  given  town  arrive  at  that  town 
the  day  before:  and  one  entire  day  is  given  to  taking  drives  among  the  fanners  of 
the  locality,  seeing  them  at  work  on  their  own  farms,  thus  becoming  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  actual  conditions  of  the  farms  and  the  crops  in  that  locality,  so 
that  on  the  next  day  in  the  institute  work  they  may  speak  of  these  conditions  from 
their  own  observation. 

Let  me  illustrate  this  point,  because  it  is  one  that  I  have  found  very  useful  to 
bear  in  mind.  In  Lake  County,  a  great  truck-growing  county,  our  institute  men 
found  last  year  that  the  cabbage  crop  of  that  locality — a  very  important  one, 
yielding  probably  $60,000  a  year,  at  least,  to  the  county — was  suffering  from  the 
if  fertilizers  low  in  ammonia  or  nitrates.  They  found  in  going 
around  among  the  fields  that  one  man  would  have  a  good  crop,  while  another 
man's  crop  would  be  a  total  failure.  Then  in  the  institute  talk  the  next  day  the 
lecturer  would  say.  for  instance:  -,I  noticed  yesterday  that  Mr.  B's  '-20-acre  field 
of  cabbage  was  almost  a  total  failure,  because  he  was  not  sufficiently  familiar 
with  fertilizer  requirement  to  use  the  proper  amount  of  nitrogen:  and  not  only 
did  he  fail  to  use  the  proper  amount  of  nitrogen,  but  he  was  using  an  uneconom- 
ical form:  he  was  using  cotton-seed  meal,  costing  8*^6  per  ton.  instead  of  castor 
pomace,  costing  si(.)  a  ton.  and  containing  almost  the  same  amount  of  nitrogen 
Had  he  expended  the  same  amount  for  castor  pomace  that  he  expended  for  cotton. 
B64  d  meal,  he  would  have  had  for  the  same  amount  of  money  invested  better 
. "     The  institute  lecturer,  of  course,  would  not  be  able  to  talk  in  this  definite 


19 

way  if  he  had   ad   spenl    the  day  before  In  familiarizing  himself  with   local 
conditions. 

One  other  point  to  which  1  wish  to  call  attention  is  the  disbursement  of  insti- 
tute hinds.  There  lias  been  in  my  experience  a  very  greal  diversity  of  practice 
and  experience  along  this  line.  Institute  workers,  I  believe,  are  as  a  ruleexp* 
to  meet  temporarily  their  own  traveling  expenses.  Sometimes  the  business  meth- 
ods adopted  necessitate  their  paying  oul  their  money  in  the  first  instance,  and 
then  waiting  perhaps  a  month  or  two  months  or  three  months  before  being  reim- 
bursed for  the  very  considerable  expense  they  have  incurred  <>nt  of  their  own  pock- 
ets. Most  of  as,  of  course,  are  required  to  report  on  the  expenditure  of  funds  to 
the  local  authorities,  and  our  accounts  must  be  audited.  The  question  has  been, 
How  can  we  remedy  this  evil  of  requiring  the  poor  farmers  engaged  as  institute 
workers  to  expend  large  sums  of  money  from  their  own  pockets  and  then  wait  an 
unreasonable  time  for  reimbursement?  How  can  this  he  done  without  at  the  same 
time  interfering  with  the  ordinary  system  of  doing  business'.-  My  solution  of  that 
problem  is  this.  I  have  adopted  practically  the  railroad  system.  Nearly  all  the 
great  railroads  of  this  country  meet  all  expenditures,  pay  all  bills,  by  sight  draft. 
We  use  the  sight  draft  method  in  our  institute  work.  Whenever  an  institute 
worker  incurs  any  expenses,  he  gives  me  an  itemized  bill,  and  I  furnish  him  with 
a  sight  draft,  taken  from  a  book  in  which  there  is  a  stub  for  each  draft:  and  on 
each  draft  appears  an  itemized  statement  of  the  expenditure.  The  stub  also  shows 
every  item  of  expense.  The  sight  draft  can  be  cashed  by  the  worker  through  any 
bank  or  any  country  merchant.  After  passing  through  the  ordinary  channels  of 
banking,  it  finally  comes  back  to  the  college  treasurer,  who  pays  it  with  his  ordi- 
nary warrant.  So  that  there  is  no  change  in  the  ordinary  methods  of  doing  busi- 
ness so  far  as  t lie  Stat  i  treasurer  or  the  college  treasurer  is  concerned:  yet  the 
institute  worker  in  the  field  receives  his  cash  payment  as  he  goes  along.  By  means 
of  my  stub  book  I  can  tell  exactly  what  every  institute  in  every  single  locality  has 
cost  for  postage,  car  fare,  traveling  expenses,  and  every  other  item.  This,  it  seems 
tome,  is  at  least  a  simple  and  effective  method  for  accomplishing  something  which 
is  worth  doing  well  and  with  satisfaction  to  the  parties  concerned. 

The  President.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Stockbridge,  I  am  impelled  to  make  a  state- 
ment as  to  my  own  experience.  Several  times  in  my  territory,  when  I  have  used 
strangers  as  lecturers — that  is.  men  not  accustomed  to  the  section  of  country  in 
which  they  are  expected  to  travel  and  lecture — I  have  found  that  fact  an  advan- 
tage. I  go  into  a  section  of  the  country  where  I  have  been  before,  where  I  know 
the  people  and  their  conditions  and  their  needs.  I  find  some  localities  so  situated 
that  they  are  not  familiar  with  what  is  being  done  in  the  outside  world.  The 
people  are  as  intelligent  as  any  others  that  you  may  meet,  but  the  conditions  are 
such  that  they  do  not  mingle  with  the  outside  world,  do  not  know  what  the  meth- 
ods of  other  sections  are.  do  not  know  what  crops  other  sections  raise  or  what 
new  industries  might  be  introduced  in  their  own  section.  But  having  thought 
that  out  myself,  I  frequently  bring  in  a  man  from  outside,  a.  stranger,  you  may  say. 
though  a  man  of  experience,  of  course,  and  I  let  him  give  his  methods  of  doing 
whatever  may  be  the  thing  under  consideration— we  will  say  dairying.  I  do  not 
ask  him  to  conform  his  methods  to  that  particular  people  at  all.  butexpect  him 
simply  to  tell  them  what  he  is  doing  in  his  locality,  leaving  the  people  to  decide 
whether  they  i  an  use  those  methods  or  not.  I  think  in  this  way  a  man  may  do 
some  excellent  work — by  going  around  with  the  lecturers  to  the  different  part-  of 
the  State.  I  think  a  stranger  can  often  do  a  great  deal  of  good  by  introducing  a 
discussion  of  a  new  industry  into  a  locality.  I  think  that  for  this  reason  the 
stranger  has  often  an  advantage  over  the  local  man. 


20 

ILLINOIS. 
By  J.  H.  Coolidge,  Gtalesburg. 

Mk.  President  \M>  Gentlemen:  We  of  Illinois  fed  asif  we  were  "on  top"'  in 
institute  work.  We  have  the  best  system  and  we  hold  the  best  institutes,  and 
more  of  them,  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  I  come  down  here,  a  fanner 
who  lives  on  the  farm  and  earns  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  the  hired  man's  brow, 
to  tell  you  about  it. 

Our  system  of  institute  work  is  twofold.  First,  there  is  an  organization  in 
each  comity  with  a  full  corps  of  officers — president,  secretary,  treasurer,  and 
executive  committee — who  take  entire  charge  of  and  are  responsible  for  the  county 
tanners*  institute  meetings.  They  select  the  subjects,  arrange  the  programmes, 
and  carry  them  out.  For  this  work  the  State  appropriates  for  the  use  of  the 
county  $75  per  annum.  Some  of  the  institutes  are  held  for  very  much  less  money 
than  that,  but  those  are  the  counties  that  are  not  very  progressive.  As  a  rule, 
our  institutes  cost  from  $100  to  $150  for  each  county.  The  balance  of  the  money 
is  raised  in  some  other  way  by  the  counties  themselves. 

Then  there  is  the  Illinois  Farmers'  Institute,  an  organization  with  one  director 
from  each  Congressional  district,  and  there  are  five  ex-officio  directors,  the  dean 
of  our  agricultural  college,  the  president  of  the  State  Dairymen's  Association, 
the  president  of  the  State  Agricultural  Association,  the  president  of  the  State 
Horticultural  Association,  and  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction.  This 
State  institute  holds  an  annual  meeting  of  three  days  or  more,  to  which  delegates 
are  sent  from  the  various  county  institutes.  This  State  institute  publishes  a  full 
report,  both  of  the  county  institutes  and  of  the  State  institute,  and  through  the 
directors  of  this  Illinois  institute  there  is  a  Congressional  district  institute  held. 
Whichever  county  in  the  Congressional  district  holds  the  meeting  the  other  coun- 
ties send  their  delegates  to  that  meeting,  so  that  we  have  more  than  one  opportu- 
nity of  getting  farmers  together.  We  get  to  rub  up  against  each  other  and  get 
acquainted  and  find  out  what  is  going  on  in  different  parts  of  our  own  Congres- 
sional district,  as  well  as  in  different  parts  of  our  State. 

Then  the  directors  act  in  a  sort  of  advisory  capacity  with  the  county  organiza- 
tion, recommending  and  publishing  a  list  of  speakers,  making  suggestions  in 
regard  to  programmes,  the  managements  of  meetings,  etc.  Each  director  has  a 
general  oversight  of  each  county  institute  in  his  district,  to  see  that  nothing  goes 
wrong,  to  keep  off  the  programme  anything  that  does  not  strictly  belong  in  a 
farmers"  institute  meeting. 

Then,  through  our  State  institute  also  are  awarded  scholarships  in  the  college 
or'  agriculture.  The  trustees  permitted  us,  when  we  put  up  our  new  agricultural 
building,  the  privilege  of  selecting  one  person  from  each  county  for  a  scholarship 
running  two  years,  and  we  found  this  to  be  a  great  help  both  to  our  young  men 
and  to  our  agricultural  college,  for  we  were  rather  in  the  rear  at  the  agricultural 
college  until  within  the  last  three  years;  but  now  we  begin  to  think  our  college 
is  in  the  front  rank. 

The  State  institute  is  also,  through  a  special  committee,  cooperating  with  the 
experiment  station  in  soil  investigations  and  experiments,  for  conducting  which  we 
secured  a  year  ago  last  winter  an  appropriation  of  S10.000.  For  all  the  experimen- 
tal work  in  the  college  of  agriculture  we  had  an  appropriation  of  $53,000  over  and 
ab(  >ve  what  is  appropriated  by  our  legislature  for  the  university  at  large.  For  the 
general  work  of  the  Illinois  farmers'  institute,  that  is.  for  traveling  and  office 
expenses,  an  appropriation  of  $8,000  per  annum  is  made.  Then  we  have  a  system 
of  free  traveling  libraries  for  rural  districts,  for  which  an  annual  appropriation  of 
$2,500  is  made.     Including  this  sum  the  appropriation  for  farmers' institutes  is 


21 

§18,150.  Furthermore,  many  of  the  conn  ties  raise  funds  varying  in  amonni  from 
|25  to  |600  to  supplement  the  state  appropriation. 

Our  meetings  are  very  largely  attended,  taxing  the  capacity  of  halls  to  their  full 
extent.  The  work  of  the  institute  is  showing  itself  in  improved  methods  of  farm 
management,  better  grades  of  live  stock,  more  care  in  the  selection  of  seeds  and 
grains  grown,  better  home  surroundings,  more  interest  in  education  on  agricultural 
lines. 

We  have  in  Illinois,  supported  by  these  institutes,  state  and  county  domestic 
science  associations,  managed  by  the  women  of  the  State.  These  associations  con- 
duct sessions  at  State  meetings  and  county  meetings,  and  are  an  imp*  irtant  feature 
of  our  institute  work.  They  do  much  to  increase  the  attendance  of  the  younger 
people  and  to  interest  the  entire  family  in  the  institute  work.  They  are  doing 
much  to  improve  the  home  environments  and  home  comforts  and  are  a  strong  ele- 
ment in  the  improvement  of  the  rural  schools.  Some  of  the  most  practical  and 
interesting  sessions  are  those  managed  by  the  domestic  science  associations. 

INDIANA. 

By  W.  C.  Latta.  Lafayette. 

Mr.  President,  I  wish  to  submit  a  summary  I  have  prepared  of  farmers'  insti- 
tute work  in  Indiana. 

(1)  Appropriation:  Ten  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 

(2 )  Disbursement  of  institute  funds :  Twenty-five  dollars  to  each  annual  institute 
for  local  expenses,  in  all,  $2,300.  The  balance  is  expended  for  salaries  of  officers, 
per  diem  and  traveling  expenses  of  assigned  speakers,  printing,  postage,  station- 
ery, etc. 

(3)  Kinds  of  institutes  held:  (a)  An  annual  institute  in  each  county,  92  in 
number,  usually  at  the  county  seat;  (o)  supplemental  institutes  near  county 
boundaries,  at  points  midway  between  the  places  of  annual  meeting;  (c)  district 
institutes,  special  in  character,  to  suit  the  section  of  State  where  held;  (d)  an 
annual  conference  of  institute  officers  and  speakers. 

(4)  Number  of  institutes  held  the  past  year:  Annual,  92;  supplemental,  104; 
district,  4;  annual  conference,  1. 

(5)  Length  of  institutes:  Each  annual  institute  continues  two  days.  As  a  gen- 
eral rule  five  sessions — three  the  first  day  and  two  the  second — are  held.  As  a 
rule  supplemental  institutes  are  two-day  meetings,  with  five  sessions.  A  few  one- 
day  dairy  institutes  were  held  the  past  year. 

(6)  Distribution  of  institutes:  Annual  institutes,  generally  near  center  of  each 
county;  supplemental  institutes  at  such  points  near  county  boundaries  as  will 
bring  an  institute  every  two  or  three  years  within  reach  of  every  farmer  of  the 
State:  county  lines  are  entirely  ignored  in  locating  supplemental  institutes. 

(7)  Speakers:  The  institute  speakers  are  mostly  actual  farmers,  stockmen, 
dairymen,  fruit  growers,  gardeners,  and  farmers'  wives.  Members  of  the  station 
staff  attend  meetings  whenever  desired,  if  practicable.  The  great  bulk  of  the 
speakers  are  from  the  farm. 

(8)  Assignment  of  speakers:  Two  speakers  are  assigned  to  the  annual  and  two- 
day  supplemental  institutes:  four  or  five  speakers  are  assigned  to  the  district 
institute;  ten  or  more  speakers  are  on  duty  at  the  annual  conference. 

(9)  Women  institute  workers:  Farmers'  wives  were  assigned  to  44  of  the  92 
annual  institutes  held  the  past  season.  In  addition  to  this  an  instructor  in  domestic 
science  devoted  the  entire  month  of  December  and  one-half  her  time  during  the 
months  of  January.  February,  and  March  to  lecturing  on  her  specialty  at  farmers' 
institutes.     She  gave  no  demonstrations,  but  made  free  use  of  charts. 


22 

I  10)  Women's  institutes:  Three  plans  are  in  vogue:  (a)  Separate  sessions  for 
women  al  the  time  of  the  annual  institute;  (b)  women  take  charge  of  one  or  more 

ms  of  the  animal  institute;  (c)  women  hold  an  institute  of  their  own  on 
another  day.  The  firsl  plan  takes  well  in  counties  where  the  audience  exceeds  the 
capacity  of  the  hall.  The  second  plan  is  quite  popular  in  a  number  of  counties, 
as  ii  does  not  divide  the  audience.  It  lias  the  advantage  of  creating  a  spirit  of 
emulation.  The  third  plan  has  been  followed,  so  far,  onlyin  one  comity,  but  it 
has  been  very  successful. 

(11)  Institute  season:  This  is  limited  bylaw.  It  begins  Noy  ember  1  and  ends 
March  31.  All  animal  and  supplemental  institutes  are  held  within  the  season. 
The  district  institutes  are  held  in  August  and  September;  the  animal  conference 
a  few  weeks  before  the  opening  of  the  institute  season. 

(12)  Local  cooperation:  A  permanent  local  organization  in  each  comity  has 
charge  of  all  local  arrangements  for  the  annual  institute,  including  securing  hall, 
advertising  the  meeting,  printing  programmes,  securing  local  workers,  etc.  A 
local  committee  provides  hall,  programme,  local  speakers,  etc..  for  each  supple- 
mental institute,  and  meets  all  expenses  except  for  the  two  speakers  that  are 
assigned  by  the  general  management  and  paid  out  of  the  general  institute  fund. 

(  L3)  Attendance:  The  attendance  ranged,  the  past  year,  from  45  to  1.500.  with 
a  general  average  of  280.  In  about  one-fourth  of  the  counties  the  hall  capacity 
has  been  exceeded.  In  such  cases  separate  sessions  for  women  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  crowd  is  greatest,  have  been  recommended,  and  have  been  found  to  be 
very  satisfactory. 

( 14)  Character  of  the  audiences:  This  depends  very  largely  on  the  local  officers. 
A  broad  gauge,  wide-awake  man  of  good  standing  will  bring  out  the  very  best 
people  from  both  town  and  country.  A  cranky  chairman,  with  a  spirit  of  antag- 
onism for  everything  not  agricultural,  will  bring  out  a  small  attendance  of 
chronic  grumblers.  This  wras  especially  true  in  the  early  days  of  the  institute 
work.  Fortunately,  almost  without  exception,  the  work  has  so  grown  and 
approved  itself  that  such  men  can  not  now  be  chosen  chairmen.  It  is  still  true, 
however,  that  the  character  and  size  of  the  audience  does  depend,  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  upon  the  intelligence,  liberal  mindedness,  and  "push"*  of  the  local 
officers,  especially  the  chairman.  Women  and  young  people  constitute  a  steadily 
increasing  percentage,  and  in  many  cases  a  decided  majority  of  the  audience. 
The  intelligence  of  the  audiences  is  also  steadily  increasing:  this  is  shown  in  the 
character  of  the  questions  asked  and  in  the  urgent  demand  for  the  best  "  up-to- 
date"  speakers. 

J.  E.  Tixdall,  of  South  Carolina.  Do  they  employ  paid  lecturers  in  Indiana. 
or  how  is  the  money  spent? 

Mr.  Latta.  Aside  from  this  $2,300.  which  is  apportioned  to  the  counties,  the 
institute  fund  is  devoted  chiefly  to  the  hiring  of  speakers,  and  then  a  small  part 
is  devoted  to  salaries  and  clerical  work  and  office  expenses.  We  send  two  speak- 
ers, expenses  paid,  to  each  annual  county  meeting  and  supplemental  meeting. 

Mr.  TlNDALL.  Do  you  send  the  speakers  from  the  colleges? 

Mr.  Latta.  Our  speakers  are  largely  practical  farmers,  fruit  growers,  dairy- 
iM  n.  stockmen.     We  send  members  of  the  station  staff  whenever  it  is  desirable, 
but  the  great  bulk  of  our  work  is  done  by  these1  practical  men.  and  we  are 
ing  especially  to  get  the  practical  man  who  is  an  agricultural  college  bred  man. 
be,  ause  in  that  way  we  tie  the  scientific  and  the  practical  sides  together. 

Mr.  WEBB.  Do  you  pay  their  expenses? 

Mr.  Latta.  Oh.  yes:  and  we  pay  them  a  regular  salary  as  well.  In  our  State 
the  salary  of  the  beginner  ranges  from  $15  up  to  §2o  per  week. 

Mr.  McKkrrow.  Andhisexpens 

Mr.  LATTA.    Yes.  his  expenses,  necessarily. 


23 

Mr.  Tim>  \i.i  .  How  do  yon  ascertain  who  are  the  mosi  desirable? 

Mr.  Latta.  We  have  Beveral  ways  of  ascertaining  that,  One  way,  which  is 
perhaps  peculiar  to  onr  State,  a1  leasl  bo  far  as  I  know,  is  this:  We  publish  a  large 
lisi  of  workers,  containing  the  names  of  the  regularly  assigned  speakers  and 
many  others.  These  lists  go  to  all  the  officers  throughonl  the  State,  and  they 
invite  ;i  man  who  is  near  by  to  work  with  them.  When  good  recommendations 
come  in  as  to  the  work  of  that  man.  and  W<  Bee  he  is  a  good  practical  man.  he  is 
n  the  list  of  active  workers.  We  reach  oul  for  the  best.  Thus  far  we  have 
gone  into  Ohio,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  Illinois  for  help.  We  pro- 
pose to  get  the  best  as  far  as  we  can  afford  it. 

KENTUCKY. 
By  I.  B.  Nall.  Frankfort. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  so  recently  joined  this  organization  that 
I  scarcely  feel  competent  to  undertake  even  to  summarize  what  we  are  doing  in 
our  State.  A  year  or  two  ago  I  had  the  honor  to  respond  for  my  State  before  the 
National  Live  Stock  Association  at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  I  was  in  a  measure  morti- 
fied in  responding  for  a  Kentucky  which  was  turbulent  and  somewhat  gory- 
handed.  But  I  am  glad  to  say  that  to-day  we  have  a  peaceable  State.  The  white 
wings  of  peace  are  fluttering  in  every  neighborhood,  on  every  hilltop,  and  over 
every  farm  in  our  State.  With  our  peace  has  come  a  desire  for  more  knowledge 
among  the  farmers.  After  developing  our  timber  and  other  resources,  we  are 
digging  into  the  mountains  and  getting  at  the  best  of  coal;  we  are  drilling  into 
the  earth  and  developing  new  and  important  fields  of  oil;  we  are  cutting  down 
timber  and  having  it  worked  up  into  useful  articles  of  commerce  or  shipping  it  to 
other  places  for  this  purpose.  And  our  farmers  are  thirsting  also  for  knowledge. 
They  want  to  increase  the  fertility  of  their  soil.  They  want  to  increase  their 
crops,  making  their  yields  compare  more  favorably  with  those  of  the  States  north 
of  us.  In  order  to  do  this,  they  are  giving  encouragement  to  institute  work.  We 
believe  it  is  necessary  to  reach  the  farmer's  understanding.  It  is  necessary  to 
instill  into  him  the  desire  to  do  better.  It  is  necessary  to  get  him  to  think  that  the 
old  methods  have  passed  and  gone,  that  his  grandfather  was  not  the  best  farmer 
in  the  world,  and  that  he  can  be  a  better  one  if  he  will  try. 

Our  State  has  an  appropriation  of  $13,000  for  a  bureau  of  agriculture,  labor,  and 
statistics.  I  have  the  honor  to  hold  the  position  of  commissioner,  and  I  may  say 
that  the  bridle  is  about  taken  off  and  we  can  do  about  as  we  please,  provided  we 
keep  within  the  appropriation.  Former  commissioners  have  not  expended  the 
whole  of  it,  because  they  have  not  "branched  out."  They  have  not  done  enough 
work.  They  have  been  rather  afraid  to  undertake  it.  I  am  trying  to  spend  every 
dollar  of  the  S13,000  appropriated.  I  am  going  to  do  it  if  I  possibly  can,  or  come 
so  near  it  that  what  is  left  will  not  be  worth  going  after.  But  I  am  trying  to 
spend  this  money  in  good  work — in  improving  our  people  and  stirring  them  up. 
The  question  is,  How  shall  we  do  it? 

Now.  I  thought  over  that  matter.  My  predecessors  have  gone  around  and  made 
appointments  all  over  the  State,  and  followed  day  by  day  with  good  lecturers  who 
too  often  lectured  to  empty  houses.  This,  I  thought  and  believed,  was  because 
they  lacked  local  influence  to  work  up  the  institute.  The  commissioner  would 
appoint  a  day  and  select  the  lecturers,  but  there  was  no  programme — nothing  to 
excite  interest  among  the  people  at  home  where  the  institute  was  to  be  held. 
Therefore  I  made  it  known  that  before  the  department  could  be  used  for  the  insti- 
tute a  local  club  at  home  must  be  organized — an  institute  or  grange  or  something 
that  would  give  me  an  organization  to  take  hold  of.     I  have  with  me  a  circular. 


•24 

which  I  will  leave  with  the  Becretary,  detailing  the  plans  upon  which  I  worked. 
Now,  when  people  write  ami  ask  for  an  institute.  I  tell  them  to  make  up  a  local 
pn  igramme  themselves,  putting  in  such  lecturers  as  they  want  t«  >  hear— tin  >se  m<  et 
competent  to  lecture  on  the  different  subjects — because  it  is  necessary.  I  think, 
to  have  a  little  home  influence  in  order  to  succeed.  Then,  when  they  snbmit  the 
programme  to  me  I  work  in  harmony  with  our  agricultural  experiment  station, 
in  which  we  have  some  ,»f  the  best  men.  Profes-or  Scovell,  as  you  all  know,  is  in 
it.  and  he  has  aided  me  whenever  called  upon,  if  he  possibly  could,  and  if  he  could 
not  he  has  sent  Borne  capable  man.  We  have  young  men  there  who  take  an 
interest  in  this  work.  Then  I  add  <  me  or  tw< »  at  every  one  of  these  institute  meet- 
1  also  reach  out  into  our  neighboring^States  of  Indiana  and  Ohio.  I  have 
brought  some  of  the  talent  from  those  States,  and  I  realize  how  far  superior  those 
men  are  to  us  in  this  work. 

Then  we  hold  these  institutes.  We  carry  ( >ut  the  programme  strictly  as  it  is  pre- 
pared and  agreed  upon.  The  next  thing  of  importance  is  to  bring  the  matter 
before  the  people  generally  in  that  neighborhood,  in  that  end  of  the  State.  I  may 
say.  For  this  purpose  I  go  myself  to  these  institutes.  I  am  pretty  quick  with  a 
pencil,  and  I  take  down  in  condensed  form  the  discussions.  After  the  reading  of 
each  paper  the  subject  is  opened  for  discussion.  If  there  is  no  paper  read,  if  it  is 
a  mere  lecture.  I  catch  the  gist  of  it  as  best  I  can.  Then  I  arrange  all  this  matter 
that  I  have  collected:  papers  read,  summaries  of  lectures  and  discussions,  and  give 
them  to  our  public  printer  for  publication. 

A  summary,  which  I  have  here,  of  one  of  our  two-day  institutes  makes  four 
closely  printed  pages.  We  have  some  10,000  or  12.000  copies  of  these  printed. 
These  cost  very  little  after  you  once  get  the  type  up.  I  employ  the  State  agri- 
cultural press  to  print  the  name  on  these  summaries,  which  are  then  folded  in 
their  circulation,  thus  reaching  all  of  their  subscribers  within  our  State.  I  then 
furnish  copies  of  these  summaries  or  supplements  to  the  papers  of  the  county 
where  the  institute  has  been  held  and  of  adjacent  counties,  to  be  distributed  in 
the  same  manner.  In  this  way  I  place  this  matter  before  every  prominent  farmer 
and  reading  man  in  that  community  within  the  range  of  five  or  six  counties, 
because,  in  addition  to  the  method  of  circulation  already  described,  I  buy  some 
3,000  copies  of  the  agricultural  paper  and  send  them  in  the  same  way  to  a  list  of 
names  gotten  up  by  the  postmasters  and  not  duplicated  by  the  agricultural  papers. 

In  that  way.  in  connection  with  10  institutes  I  held  last  winter,  we  had  ci 
100,000  readers,  if  people  read  what  they  get  through  the  mail.  The  subject- 
matter,  of  course,  is  such  as  they  are  interested  in  locally  and  such  as  I  believe 
they  ought  to  be  interested  in.  I  believe  I  get  in  this  way  a  larger  circulation  for 
our  proceedings  than  could  be  obtained  by  any  other  plan.  I  reach  more  people 
with  the  institute  work  without  the  necessity  of  holding  so  many  institu:  s 
tell  you  of  the  plan  which  I  have.  I  am  ready  to  adopt  yours  if  they  are  better, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  I  shall  hear  of  some  that  are  better  before  we  get  through. 

I  am  asked.  Mr.  President,  upon  what  authority  the  institutes  we  hold  are 
ordered.  They  are  held  simply  upon  the  authority  given  to  the  bureau  of  agricul- 
ture and  the  instructions  to  hold  institutes  and  to  expend  this  money  for  the 
benefit  of  the  fanner.  We  have  no  board  of  agriculture,  but  we  have  an  advisory 
board. 

Mr.  Caby.  May  I  ask  the  gentleman  whether  he  has  any  idea  about  the  number 
of  farmers  who  read  these  printed  reports': 

Mr.  Xall.  Of  course  I  can  not  tell:  but  I  am  satisfied  that  a  great  many  of 
them  do.  I  hear  of  hundreds  of  them.  They  tell  me  about  it  and  write  to  me 
al  >out  it.     I  should  say  eight  or  ten  thousand  read  the  proceedings  of  each  institute. 


25 

MARYLAND. 

By  William   L.  Am<  >ss,  Bi  nson. 

Our  annual  appropriation  has  increased  from  $3, >  to  (4,000.     We  are  asking 

for  $5,000,  feeling  that  with  this  sum  we  can  conduct  in  Maryland  as  good  insti- 
tntea  as  i  an  be  condncted  in  any  oilier  section.  The  interest  in  1 1 1 « -  work  is  grow- 
ing; the  audiences  are  increasing  in  every  section.  <  hir  meetings  bring  out  a  full 
attendance  in  every  county,  still  the  percentage  of  fanners  who  attend  the  insti- 
tutes is  small.  If  we  have  an  attendance  of  only  100  in  a  county  where  there  are 
many  thousand,  1  consider  it  a  small  attendance.  Bui  good  men  from  other  States, 
who  have  worked  in  many  places,  not  alone  in  their  own  Stair-,  tell  me  that  OUT 
audiences  compare  very  favorably  in  number  with  those  in  other  s- 

The  five-session  institute  is,  in  my  opinion,  an  ideal  institute:  but  in  our  State 
you  will  not  in  such  an  institute  reach  as  many  people  as  in  a  one-day  meeting. 
The  one-day  institutes,  however,  are  very  hard  on  the  institute1  worker.  I  travel 
with  the  institute  workers  myself,  and  I  know  what  it  is  to  hold  a  one-day  insti- 
tute for  days  in  succession  in  different  places,  being  compelled  often  to  catch  a 
train  as  late  as  10  or  12  o'clock  at  night  and  then  get  up  early  the  next  morning 
in  order  to  catch  another  train.  As  I  said  last  year  at  Buffalo.  I  have  done  this 
kind  of  thing  once,  but  will  not  do  it  again. 

I  am  trying  a  new  plan— something  I  have  not  met  with  in  other  places:  that 
is.  to  coll.  r  as  many  questions  for  the  institute  work  as  I  possibly  can.  bundle 
them  up  and  take  them  with  me.  And  then  when  the  questions  are  present  d  at 
the  meeting  I  have  a  stenographer  take  down  the  questions  and  the  answers. 
These  questions  and  answers  I  have  printed  on  one  large  sheet,  copies  of  which  I 
send  out  to  various  newspapers  of  the  State,  which  publish  the  material  or  not  as 
they  choose.  This  plan  saves  me  the  labor  of  preparing  such  publications  for  the 
various  newspaper  reporters  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  applying  for  them.  It 
seems  to  have  met  with  favor.     I  will  give  it  further  trial  and  report  later. 

In  our  work  charts  have  been  found  very  satisfactory. 

Some  remark  has  been  made  about  the  impossibility  of  conducting  an  institute 
without  music  or  similar  entertainment.  I  have  found  that  the  lecture  on  domes- 
tic science  has  always  held  the  audience — has  interested  and  instructed  them  at 
the  same  time,  and  has  never  failed  to  be  asked  for  again.  I  do  believe  that  you 
can  conduct  an  institute  without  resorting  to  what  may  be  called  amusing  enter- 
tainments. I  say  that  an  institute  director  who  can  not  interest  an  audience— 
who  can  not  conduct  a  successful  institute  by  giving  simply  sound  instruction — is 
a  failure  as  an  institute  director. 

Atone  meeting  where  prizes  were  awarded  for  poultry  half  a  dozen  coops  of 
poultry  were  brought  in  at  the  evening  session  and  the  gentleman  who  had  acted 
as  judge  of  the  poultry  explained  to  the  audience  why  he  had  awarded  prizes  to 
certain  fowls  and  not  to  others.  This  proved  to  be  a  very  interesting  and  valuable 
meeting.  It  was  largely  attended  by  both  men  and  women,  and  I  believe  they 
were  very  much  benefited.     They  said  they  were. 

The  question  box  has  not  been  a  success  in  Maryland,  but  during  the  past  rea- 
son it  has  been  freely  used,  much  more  so  than  before,  and  I  believe  the  publica- 
tion of  answers  in  the  local  press  will  bring  out  many  more  questions  in  the  future. 

It  has  been  found  beneficial  to  have  men  from  each  county  visit  the  farms,  the 
markets,  and  other  points  of  interest  and  hear  the  addresses  of  men  interested  in 
special  lines,  lines  interesting  to  their  sections:  and  when  we  return  t;>  their 
counties  and  hold  an  institute,  they  write  reports  and  read  them.  The  local  press 
will  generally  publish  such  reports  in  full.  In  this  way  I  have  interested  sections 
that  were  somewhat  prejudiced  against  institute  work  and  have  gotten  audiences 
where  at  first  I  failed.     I  believe  some  good  work  can  be  done  in  that  way. 


26 

<  INTAMO. 

By  (t.   ('.   CREKLMAN,  Toronto. 

Mb.  President,  Ladies,  lnd  Gentlemen:  In  thinking  oyer  our  work,  I  decided 

I  would  take  np  one  particular  branch,  which  I  consider  our  strong  feature;  that 
is.  our  comity  organization.     After  visiting  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union  that 

farmers'  institi  ms,  and  visiting  lifferent  provinces  of  Canada 

that  have  farmers"  institntes,  I  have  come  firmly  to  th<  rion  that  in  all 

these  States  and  provinces  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  superintendents  or  those  in 
charge  to  give  more  detailed  time  and  attention  to  the  perfection  of  the  permanent 
county  organizations. 

I  believe  that  the  institute  system  in  its  inception  was  intended  largely  to  enter- 
tain the  farmers.     We  had  to  put  on  our  programme  something  that  would  bring 
the  farmers  out  even  from  curiosity.     But  with  us  and  in  a  number  of  theS 
that  time  has  gone  by,  and  the  fanners  now  come  to  he  instructed;  to  carry  away 

bing  of  a  practical  nature.  If  that  l>e  the  case.  I  lndieve  we  have  got  to  do 
something  better  than  to  give  the  fanner  one  meeting  a  year.  I  believe  we  have 
got  to  approach  more  closely  to  the  public  school  >y>tem — to  establish  a  sort  of 
u  w<  >rk.  aided  by  the  State  and  carried  out  by  the  people  themselves. 
We  have  done  that  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  Province  of  Ontario.  We  have  94 
electoral  districts,  as  they  would  be  called  here:  and  in  each  there  i-  a  permanent 
farmers'  institute,  with  a  president,  a  vice-president,  a  secretary-treasurer,  and  a 
board  of  directors,  the  board  being  composed  of  men  selected,  one  at  least,  from 
each  township  of  the  district:  so  that  we  have  in  every  municipality  active  agents. 
Each  institute  must  according  to  our  system  hold  at  least  six  meetings  a  year. 
Tho-e  six  meetings  maybe  held  in  six  different  places,  or  they  may  be  held  in 
two  i  <r  three  different  places,  as  the  directors  see  fit.  From  the  1st  to  the  20th  of 
Jvme.  each  of  these  ninety-four  institutes  hold<  its  annual  meeting.  Those  annual 
meetings  are  very  largely  of  a  business  nature,  though  in  many  instances  we  send 

ker  to  address  them.  At  this  time  the  business  of  the  year  is  transacted. 
The  reports  are  made  out  at  that  time  and  sent  to  me.  Four  different  fornis  for 
these  reports  are  supplied  by  us.  The  first  sheet  shows  the  officers  and  directors 
elected  at  that  meeting:  the  second  gives  a  list  of  the  meetings  held  during  the 
past  year  with  the  attendance  at  each,  the  number  of  addresses  delivered.  etc.; 
the  third  gives  a  list  of  the  meetings  they  wish  to  hold  and  for  which  they  want  us 
to  arrange,  for  the  next  fall,  winter  and  spring — extending  up  till  the  next  annual 
meeting:  the  fourth  sheet  shows  the  moneys  received  and  expended.  W 
each  local  institute  $35  only.  In  our  province  each  local  institute  is  empowered 
to  charge— and  here  a  number  of  you  may  differ  with  me  as  to  the  wisdom  of  >ur 
policy,  but  we  have  worked  it  out  successfully  in  our  province,  and  I  think  you 
w«  raid  find  it  g<  ><  >d  in  the  States — in  our  province  each  local  institute  is  empowered 
each  member  of  the  institute  who  wishes  to  affiliate  25  cents.     Every 

v  who  wishes  t<  >  get  the  benefit  of  the  institute  must  come  forward  to  his 

Le  time  during  the  year  and  pay  this  25  cents. 

You  may  say  that  your  American  farmers  will  not  do  this.     Some  of  us  said 

■  in  was  put  into  operation  that  our  Canadian  fanners  would  not 

do  it.  and  for  a  long  time  they  said  that  they  would  not  do  it.     But  in  the 

Province  of  <  mtario  our  geographical  position  is  similar  to  that  of  your  northern 

and  central  States:  our  people,  Like  yours,  are  engaged  in  mixed  farming.     When 

you  see  -"nir  of  our  farmers  upon  an  excursion  to  Lansing  or  Cornell  you  would 

not  know  whether  they  were  Canadians  or  Americans.     I  believe  that  if  in  your 

institutes  you  undertake  to  continue  to  give  your  farmers  something  for  nothing. 

they  will  come  to  depreciate  the  advantages  which  you  offer  them:  but  when  a 

man  ha-  paid  .  ;  initially  for  his  privilege  of  taking  part  in  the  farmers' 


27 

institute,  he  will,  when  the  time  comes  round,  hitch  up  his  own  horse  and  rig 

and  drive  to  the  meeting,  simply  because  he  lias  an  interesl  in  thai  meeting,  hav- 
ing paid  money  to  help  tin-  organization. 

The  money  received  by  the  institute  in  the  form  of  these  35-cent  contributions 
is  expended  by  it  and  reported  tons,  and  tin   accounts  are  audited  once  a  year- 

In  return  for  this  annual  payment  of  2o  cents,  the  local  secretary  guarai 
six  meetings  in  the  electoral  district  during  the  year    Eds  al  least.     In  - 
there  are  as  many  as  12  or  15.     In  addition  to  that,  the  contributors  i 
mail   the   report     >f  the  superintendent  of   farmers'  institutes,  containing  the 
i  who  have  been  engaged  in  such  work  during  the  past  year. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  contributors  receiveall  the  various  publications  of  the 
rtment  of  Agriculture,  such  as  the  reports  of  the  Dairymen'-  Association, 
Fruit  Growers'  Association,  the  G-ood  Roads  Association,  and  a  number  of 
others— all  such  publications  as  the  Department  of  Agriculture  issue  •  .     Through 
our  institute  system  we  arrange  with  the  Department  that  these  reports  shall  go 
only  to  our  members. 

Mr.  Latt\.  Does  any  difficulty  arise  from  refusing  to  distribute  these  reports 
ee  who  are  not  memb 

Mr.  CREELMAN.  I  do  not  think  we  are  as  strict  in  enforcing  the  rule  as  we 
might  be.  There  may  be  individuals  who  have  a  special  right  to  receive  this 
literature.  I  should  have  modified  or  qualified  my  statement  by  saying  that  such 
organizations  as  I  have  mentioned — the  Fruit  Growers'  Association,  the  Dairy- 
men's Association,  etc..  receive  their  reports  as  members  of  their  particular  asso- 
ciations.    We  reach  the  individual  members  of  the  local  organizations. 

Mr.  L att  \.  Do  these  "Jo-cent  contributions  furnish  sufficient  funds  for  carrying 
on  this  local  work,  or  do  you  have  to  reach  out  for  funds  in  other  directions? 

Mr.  Creelmax.  The  supply  from  this  source  is  supplemented  to  some  extent. 
In  the  first  place  we  pay  $25  to  the  local  organization  once  a  year.  That  grant  is 
dependent  upon  the  payment  of  a  like  amount  by  their  county  council.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  locality  go  to  the  council  and  say.  "  The  Department  of  Agriculture  is 
going  to  give  us  $25,  provided  you  give  us  $25."  Ordinarily  the  county  grant  is 
obtained,  and  that  fact  is  reported  to  me  before  I  send  the  $25. 

This  might  not  work  in  every  State  of  the  Union.  I  remember  that  in  Wiscon- 
sin Professor  Henry  said:  "You  have  up  there  a  kind  of  coercive  government; 
but  with  us.  independent  farmers  can  not  be  compelled  to  do  anything  of  that 
kind  that  they  do  not  want  to  do."  But  I  think  the  fact  that  so  large  a  number 
have  come  forward  with  their  contributions  is  sufficient  indication  that  the  scheme 
will  work,  because  the  people  will  appreciate  what  is  done. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  each  institute  has  a  fund  of  $50  out  of  which  to  go 
ahead  with  its  work.  Supposing  that  there  are  200  members,  the  25-cent  contri- 
butions of  these  will  furnish  another  850.  making  a  fund  of  8100.  This  fund  is 
used  to  pay  the  rent  of  halls,  to  arrange  and  advertise  meetings  under  our  juris- 
diction. There  is  nothing  we  have  found  harder  at  first  to  control  than  local 
advertising.  The  local  committee  in  whose  hands  the  matter  is  left  often  do  noth- 
ing, and  finally  when  the  time  for  the  meeting  has  arrived,  we  find  that  nothing 
has  been  done  to  make  known  the  time  and  place  of  meeting.  To  overcome  this 
difficulty,  we  get  up  a  poster  printed  on  canvass,  so  as  to  be  durable.  We  send 
one  to  each  secretary,  notifying  him.  "  We  expect  you  to  distribute,  at  least  two 
weeks  before  each  meeting,  a  poster  similar  to  this,  and  have  it  placed  in  every 
blacksmith's  shop,  every  schoolhouse.  and  in  all  public  places  in  the  district:  and 
you  must  send  us.  two  weeks  in  advance,  a  copy  of  the  poster  you  have  gotten  up, 
so  that  we  shall  know  you  are  doing  the  work.  One  week  before  the  meeting, 
you  must  print  a  programme  containing  information  in  regard  to  the  meeting — a 
small  programme  for  the  hand — and  send  copies  to  every  school-teacher  and  to 


28 

quite  a  number  of  the  pupils;  Let  the  children  distribute  copies  at  their  homes. 
and  you  must  Bend  na  also  a  copy  of  the  programme,  so  that  we  may  know  what 
nur  on." 

That  county  organization  gives  us  a  hold  on  those  people  of  the  province,  ena- 
bling us  to  reach  them  for  every  purpose;  and  I  will  tell  you  some  of  the  purposes 
for  which  we  want  to  reach  them. 

For  a  time  we  were  handicapped  in  our  endeavor  to  supply  the  object  lessons 
-ary  to  back  up  the  practical  talk  of  our  lecturers  in  the  winter  time.  It 
seemed  impossible  to  get  up  object  lessons  other  than  chart  work,  model  work. 
etc  We  can  not  take  cows  or  horses  into  a  schoolroom  or  church  or  other  public 
hall  for  exhibition:  and  although,  when  the  weather  allows,  we  may  take  the 
people  out  on  the  roadside  to  listen  to  a  practical  talk  in  connection  with  live 
stock,  the  weather  is  often  too  severe  to  admit  of  this.  That  difficulty  we  have 
solved  in  this  manner:  We  have  arranged  every  year  that  each  institute,  or  some- 
times two.  three,  or  four  institutes  acting  in  conjunction,  shall  during  the  month 
of  June  run  an  excursion  to  the  agricultural  college,  where,  on  the  grounds  of 
the  institution,  all  these  desirable  object  lessons  can  be  given.  Last  year  30.000 
farmers  patronized  these  excursions  through  the  farmers'  institute  organization, 
and  this  year  we  expect  to  have  as  many  as  40,000.  Upon  the  experimental  plats 
of  the  college,  when  these  visitors  come  there,  are  to  be  seen  the  different  kinds 
of  grasses,  clover,  grain,  etc.;  there  is  also  an  opportunity  to  see  dairy  work  and 
poultry  raising.  The  farmers  go  from  one  building  to  another,  and  the  professors 
give  short  talks.  In  this  way  the  winter's  work  of  the  institute  is  supplemented 
by  these  object  lessons,  and  when  these  farmers  meet  in  the  institutes,  the  lec- 
turers talk  about  something  that  the  farmers  have  already  seen  practically 
illustrated. 

Then,  again,  we  try  to  get  our  institute  workers  to  attend  the  Provincial  Winter 
Fair,  which  is  held  in  December.  There  we  have  many  object  lessons,  particu- 
larly in  live-stock  work.  Our  live-stock  exhibits  have  probably  no  parallel  on 
the  continent.  The  animals  are  exhibited  in  a  large  building  which  accommo- 
dates 20.000  people.  The  animals  are  first  judged  as  live  stock  from  a  market 
standpoint:  then  they  are  taken  away,  slaughtered,  and  brought  back  to  be 
judged  in  the  carcass.  We  have  expert  packers  from  large  establishments  to 
give  us  a  talk  on  the  carcass. 

In  the  last  two  years  we  asked  the  farmers'  institutes  to  cooperate  with  us  in 
holding  this  winter  fair,  and  each  institute  paid  $5  from  its  membership  fees  to 
the  fair,  on  condition  that  all  the  members  should  be  allowed  free  entrance  to  the 
building  during  the  continuance  of  the  show.  As  a  result  of  this  more  than  2,500 
institute  members  presented  tickets  at  the  door,  some  having  come  hundreds  of 
miles.  Witli  the  intelligence  thus  acquired  these  farmer  visitors  return  to  their 
respective  communities  to  leaven  the  loaf  with  their  information  in  regard  to 
what  the  farmers  ought  to  produce,  what  ought  to  be  the  market  price  for  cer- 
tain products,  etc. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

By  J.  E.  Tixdall.  Silver. 

We  are  somewhat  in  the  incipient  stages  of  this  work  in  South  Carolina:  still  I 
think  we  have  accomplished  a  great  deal  for  that  locality  under  our  peculiar  con- 
ditions. I  see  very  clearly  that  we  are  only  starting  out.  I  agree  very  thoroughly 
with  what  Mr.  Brigham  has  said,  that  this  is  a  most  important  work,  and  that 
you  can  confer  no  greater  blessing  upon  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States 
than  by  bringing  her  farmers  up  to  a  knowledge  of  their  own  business  and  of 
their  rights  and  duties  as  citizens,  ranking  equal  with  the  members  of  all  other 


29 

professions.     A71  institution  like  this  can  certainly  be  a  very  great  benefil  in  uni- 
fying and  harmonizing  this  work  throughout  the  United  States. 

In  South  Carolina  the  care  and  management  of  OUT  department  devolve  upon 
the  board  of  trustees  of  Clemson  College,  who  are  authorized  to  use  what  funds 

arc  available  for  farmers9  institutes. 

We  have  a  large  plant  and  a  large  number  of  students  between  500  and  600. 
The  people  of  the  state  are  interested  intensely  in  this  work,  although  there  arc 
seven  other  colleges  of  the  State  of  high  grade  well  filled,  having  about  all  the 

students  that  they  have  capacity  to  educate. 

The  board  of  trustees  appoints  a  committee  of  their  own  members,  who.  with 
the  president  of  the  college,  have  the  direction  of  the  institutes.  At  the  beginning 
they  held  institutes  in  every  county  of  the  State,  to  interest  the  farmers:  but  hav- 
ing very  limited  funds  they  afterwards  concluded  to  leave  it  to  the  different  com- 
munities to  arrange  for  the  holding  of  a  fanners' institute,  the  college  then  to 
supply  the  speakers.  In  addition  to  that,  we  have  one  general  institute  for  the 
State  at  the  college  itself.  The  people  are  invited  to  gather  there,  and  they  are 
boarded  at  50  cents  a  day.  That  is  the  whole  cost.  The  students  are  away,  and 
the  dormitories  are  vacant,  so  that  these  farmers  attending  the  institute  can  be 
readily  boarded. 

Last  year  we  had  23  institutes.  Between  5,000  and  6,000  people  attended  them 
in  different  counties,  and  were  very  much  interested.  The  people  arranged  for 
the  institutes,  they  asked  for  the  speakers,  the  speakers  were  provided,  and  many 
of  the  most  intelligent,  active,  progressive  farmers  of  the  State  attended  the 
institute.  They  interchange  opinions  with  each  other;  they  get  the  opinions  of 
the  professors  in  their  various  lines.  Thus  the  institute  is  working  like  a  leaven. 
and  is  doing  an  immense  amount  of  good.  It  reaches  the  best,  the  most  ener- 
getic, the  most  progressive  part  of  the  population,  and  the  benefits  are  distributed 
throughout  the  State.  Thus  an  interest  is  being  awakened  in  the  scientific 
knowledge  of  farming. 

I  appreciate  very  much  the  fact  that  you  are  trying  to  bring  up  your  people  to 
the  level  of  their  best  farmers.  But  a  good  farmer  succeeds  sometimes  on  account 
of  local  conditions,  without  having  a  very  scientific  knowledge  of  the  subject.  In 
South  Carolina  we  recognize  the  very  great  necessity  of  imparting  accurate, 
scientific  instruction  to  the  farmer;  in  other  words,  he  needs  to  be  taught  the 
true  principles  underlying  agriculture,  and  the  special  principles  that  apply  to  its 
different  branches. 

Our  conditions  are  different  from  yours.  We  have  a  plant  that  we  grow  that 
is  one  of  the  best  in  the  world,  one  of  the  most  important,  one  of  the  hardiest,  one 
exactly  suited  to  our  climate  and  our  soil  and  the  conditions  of  labor  existing  with 
us,  one  which  is  always  saleable,  which  is  almost  absolutely  indestructible  except 
by  fire.  It  is  the  most  fascinating  crop  in  the  world;  and  therefore  you  can  not 
keep  the  people  from  pursuing  its  culture.  Of  course  I  refer  to  cotton.  Take  a 
man  from  the  North,  or  anywhere  else,  and  introduce  him  into  our  communities, 
and  though  he  may  say  at  the  beginning,  "  I  will  not  plant  cotton:  I  will  do  this 
or  that:  "  yet  in  a  fewT  years  he  goes  into  cotton  raising. 

We  use  a  large  amount  of  commercial  fertilizers.  The  people  are  interested  to 
know  the  exact  proportions  of  potash  and  of  nitrates  to  be  used.  The  people 
attend  the  institutes  and  expect  the  scientific  men  there  to  enlighten  them  on  those 
points,  and  the  lectures  given  are  very  instructive.  What  we  want  is  to  enlarge 
the  branches  of  instruction  so  as  to  teach  animal  industry,  dairying,  and  other 
farming  industries,  in  order  to  diversify  our  crops. 

H.  E.  Stockbridge,  of  Florida.  Are  the  speakers  that  are  furnished  to  the  insti- 
tutes selected  exclusively  from  the  college  faculty,  or  do  you  go  out  and  get 
successful  farmers  to  take  part  in  the  exercises? 


30 

Mr.  Tindall.  At  one  time  we  did  go  out  mikI  get  a  few  successful  farmers. 
Bui  the  people  of  our  State  now  want  scientific  knowledge.  Tiny  want  to  see  the 
jsor8  for  themselves,  and  in  that  way  to  know  that  they  get  information 
w  hich  is  correct.     So  that  now  we  use  the  professors  of  the  collej 

( )nc  drawback  which  we  experience — and  no  doubt  it  is  experienced  elsewhere — 
is  that  a  great  many  scientific  men  are  not  able  to  translate  their  scientific  knowl- 
edge Into  popular  language.  Many  men  make  good  prof essors  and  serve  well  as 
teachers  before  their  classes,  but  have  not  the  gift  of  putting  their  knowledge 
into  language  which  is  intelligible  to  the  people  at  large.  Therefore  our  laborers 
are  few  and  the  harvest  is  rich. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. 

By  J.  ().  Thompson,  Charleston. 

Our  State  was  only  40  years  old  last  Thursday,  so  that  we  can  not  give  you  any 
ancient  history  on  the  work  of  the  farmers*  institutes  in  our  State,  and  I  will  not 
attempt  it.  The  work  of  the  farmers'  institutes  incur  State  is  done  under  the 
auspices  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture,  consisting  of  seven  members,  who  by 
law  must  all  be  practical  farmers,  actually  engaged  in  farming.  According  to 
law  they  meet  twice  a  year — in  October  and  April.  At  the  October  meeting  they 
make  a  list  of  all  the  institutes  to  be  held,  giving  the  county  and  the  date,  for  the 
next  six  months.  They  also  designate  two  members  of  their  own  body  to  be 
present  at  each  institute.  They  have  full  charge  of  the  employment  of  outside 
help.  For  some  of  their  help  they  reach  over  into  Ohio,  and  I  will  say  that  we 
have  had  some  very  efficient  help  from  that  State. 

The  secretary  of  the  board,  who  is  the  superintendent  of  the  institutes,  simply 
corresponds  with  the  local  institute  officers.  We  try  to  have  in  every  county  of 
our  State  (there  are  55  in  all)  a  president  and  secretary  of  the  local  institutes. 
It  is  their  business  to  correspond  with  the  superintendent  of  institutes  and  to  fix 
the  place  in  the  county  where  the  institute  shall  be  held,  and  to  select  all  the 
workers  and  arrange  the  programmes.  The  superintendent  of  institutes  sends  a  list 
of  the  institute  workers  who  are  available,  with  the  subjects  that  they  treat,  and 
from  this  list  the  local  president  and  secretary  select  the  subjects  they  want 
treated  by  the  men  who  are  coming:  and  then  they  send  the  copy  for  the  pro- 
grammes to  me:  I  have  it  printed  by  the  public  printer  and  send  it  back.  We  have 
a  poster  printed,  with  the  name  of  the  county  and  the  date  left  blank  (a  large 
pile  of  these  posters  is  printed  by  direction  of  the  board),  and  when  any  particu- 
lar county  is  getting  ready  for  an  institute  we  send  them  some  of  these  posters 
and  they  fill  them  up. 

Our  State  appropriates  for  the  total  expenses  of  the  board  of  agriculture  810.000 
a  year.  Aside  from  that,  we  have  an  appropriation  of  about  $1,000  a  year  for 
the  distribution  of  literature  relating  to  animal  diseases,  etc. 

We  have  never  had  any  trouble  as  to  the  overcrowding  of  buildings  in  which 
inst  it  utes  are  held.  We  have  not  had  a  single  instance  of  a  person  fainting  away 
on  account  of  the  crowd  vitiating  the  atmosphere. 

General  Howard,  when  he  was  visiting  a  colored  school  in  the  South,  asked: 
'•  What  shall  I  tell  the  people  of  the  North?"  One  little  fellow  cried  out:  "  Tell 
'em  we're  risin'."  I  suppose  I -might  make  such  a  report  as  to  farmers'  institute 
work  in  West  Virginia. 

( )nc  more  thing  I  wish  to  mention.  Under  the  authority  of  the  board,  the  secre- 
tary of  the  board  of  agriculture  of  West  Virginia  publishes  a  monthly  farm  paper 
called  the  ••Farm  Review,"  a  paper  of  32  pages,  the  same  size  of  page  as  the 
American  Agriculturist.  It  is  published  at  a  small  subscription  price,  and  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  the  farmers  seem  to  appreciate  it  very  highly. 

The  circulation  of  this  paper  last  October  when  I  took  charge  of  it  was  2,750. 


81 

When  I  lefl  home  I  lefl  orders  for  printing  6,000  copies  of  the  July  number.  The 
paper  is  divided  into  departments,  and  the  consulting  members  of  tin-  board  are 
department  editors.  We  have  Professor  Atkinson,  of  the  State  university,  as 
editor  of  the  departmenl  of  agricultural  science.  We  have  one  of  the  leading 
poultry  breeders  of  the  State  as  editor  of  the  poultry  department.  We  have  a 
leading  dairyman  for  editor  of  the  dairy  department.  All  those  departments  are 
represented  each  month;  and  I.  as  editor  in  chief,  undertake,  as  we  used  to  Bay 
in  New  England,  to  ••fill  up."  I  believe  we  are  <l«>iiiLc  very  excellenl  work 
through  the  publication  of  that  monthly  paper. 

My  Florida  friend  touched  upon  the  question  of  thepaymenl  of  workers.  In 
our  stat*'  the  board  authorizes  the  secretary  to  draw  on  the  treasurer  through  the 

auditor  f..r  $5 r  $1,000  at  a  time     If.-  keeps  this  money  on  deposit  in  hank: 

and  when  anyone  of  our  institute  workers,  whether  a  member  of  the  hoard  or 
other  person,  wants  his  hill  paid,  he  simply  semis  an  itemized  account  to  t; 
retary,  who  either  makes  a  requisition  on  the  treasurer,  which  requisition  is 
signed  by  the  president,  or.  in  case  of  an  emergency,  draws  his  check  as  treasurer 
of  the  hoard  and  pays  the  hill  at  once.  We  find  this  system  to  work  excellently 
well. 

The  President.  We  have  adopted  the  same  system. 

Mr.  McKerbow.  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  the  payment  of  workers,  we  form- 
erly had  in  Wisconsin  the  system  which  has  been  described  by  the  gentlemen 
from  West  Virginia,  that  of  drawing  a  bulk  amount.  Sometimes  I  have  drawn 
as  high  as  $2,000  and  checked  it  out  in  small  sums.  But  we  were  the  only  one  of 
all  the  departments  of  the  State  or  university  that  was  doing  that,  and  finally  it 
was  decided  it  would  hardly  do  to  let  the  farmers  be  an  exception,  that  they  were 
no  more  honest  than  others,  and  that  some  officer  entrusted  with  large  sums  in 
this  way  might  skip  off  to  Canada.  So  a  rule  was  adopted,  or  rather  reenacted, 
that  no  money  should  be  paid  until  sworn  statements  with  vouchers  attached 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  auditing  committee,  and  that  every  account  must 
be  audited  before  being  paid.  Under  the  present  system.  I  have  sometimes  had 
$'2,000  of  my  own  money  invested  in  institute  work.  I  think  the  difficulty  in  con- 
nection with  this  matter  may  be  gotten  around  upon  the  plan  of  the  gentleman 
from  Florida:  at  least  I  am  going  to  carry  the  idea  home  and  submit  it. 

WISCONSIN. 

By  George  M<  Kerrow.  Madison. 

Wisconsin  began  this  institute  work  as  a  di.  tinct  system  by  an  appropriation  of 
$5,000  in  1885,  which  was  increased  to  $12,000  in  1887.  This  is  an  annual  appro- 
priation, and  under  it  we  are  holding  our  farmers*  institutes.  During  the  last 
year  Wisconsin  has  held  one  hundred  two-day  meetings,  of  five  sessions  each; 
one  three-day  meeting  known  as  our  "  round-up:  "*  and  ten  one-day  meetings,  in 
the  newer  sections  of  the  State.  Our  meetings  are  held  in  what  we  find  to  he  the 
most  available  season — from  the  20th  of  December  to  the  20th  of  March.  We 
publish  what  is  known  as  our  annual  bulletin,  the  fifteenth  edition  of  which  is 
now  going  to  press.  This  is  an  illustrated  book  of  320  pages,  the  illustrations 
being  drawn  from  the  different  farms  of  the  State.  For  the  publication  of  this 
bulletin  we  get  some  returns  in  the  way  of  advertising.  This  year  the  return  will 
be  about  $2,700  from  fifty  pages  of  advertising  at  the  close  of  the  book.  The 
expense  of  this  publication  is  paid  for.  not  out  of  the  printing  fund  of  the  State. 
but  out  of  the  fanners'  institute  fund.  It  could  be  printed  as  State  printing,  and 
we  have  considered  that  question,  as  we  might  thus  mivo  about  $3,600  of  our 
funds:  but  we  have  found  that  the  State  printers  could  not  alwi  ut  the 

:  books  on  time.     We  want  our  bulletin  to  come  out  just  before  the  winter  insti- 
i  tutes  begin,  so  that  the  copies  can  be  distributed  over  the  State  with  the  list  of 


32 

meetings,  [n  some  cases  public-spirited  individuals  have  applications  on  record 
in  advance  for  fifty  or  a  hundred  of  these  bulletins,  to  be  given  ont  to  their  farmer 
friends  and  patrons.  Thus  there  is  a  great  advantage  in  having  the  bulletin  out 
in  ample  time.  Besides,  the  State  will  not  include  any  advertising  in  any  of  its 
publications,  and  we  want  this  advertising. 

In  Borne  instances  the  attendance  on  our  institutes  has  been  such  that  we  have 
had  people  faint,  and  have  had  the  floors  begin  to  go  down,  so  that  the  people 
have  been  obliged  to  work  out  in  order  to  avoid  a  Btampede.  But  it  is  not  always 
that  way.  Sometimes  there  is  plenty  of  room.  But  by  having  a  class  "f  workers 
well  known,  including  practical  scientific  farmers — ami  we  do  claim  to  have 
some  scientific  farmers  in  Wisconsin,  not  college  men.  either— we  succeed  in 
drawing  out  the  people.  After  seventeen  years  of  this  class  of  work  our  meet- 
ire  now  better  attended  than  in  the  early  days  of  this  work,  or  even  five  or 
ten  years  ago. 

At  some  of  the  smaller  places.  20  or  30  miles  from  a  railroad,  we  do  not  draw  as 
large  crowds  on  the  average  as  we  did  ten  years  ago  when  we  were  holding  rueet- 
oly  at  the  county  seats.  We  have  no  county  system.  County  lines  are  not 
in  a  genera]  way  considered  in  placing  our  institutes.  Ours  is  a  State  system. 
Competitive  points  in  the  State  ask  for  these  institutes  by  petition.  We  prepare 
a  form  of  petition,  assuming  that  every  signer  will  take  an  active  interest  in 
advertising  the  institute  and  helping  it  in  every  way.  These  forms  of  petitions 
are  a-ked  for  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  and  are  returned  well  filled  with 
names.  Business  men  take  just  as  much  interest  in  the  organization  of  farmers' 
institutes  in  their  particular  localities  as  the  farmers  do.  I  know  Imsiness  men  in 
our  State  who  have  paid  as  high  as  $100  toward  the  expenses  of  the  local  farmers" 
institute. 

In  many  of  our  institutes  a  premium  is  offered  for  the  products  of  the  farm  and 
the  farm  home,  so  that  some  of  the  institutes  become  genuine  fairs.  I  know  of 
where  over  $2,000  has  been  spent  in  a  premium  list:  hut  as  a  rule  the  prizes 
will  run  from  $10  to  $100. 

Part  of  our  money  is  spent  on  the  women's  department.  Last  year  we  gave 
twenty-tlm  e  cooking  lessons.  We  employed  two  or  three  ladies,  who  talked  at 
the  general  meeting,  not  at  a  special  women's  session.  These  ladies  discussed 
soin,-  practical  topics,  such  as  dairying  from  a  woman's  standpoint,  the  rearing  of 
poultry,  home-making  and  other  domestic  subjects,  such  as  we  men  folks  like  to 
hear  the  ladies  talk  about. 

Mr.  Yoorhees.  Allow  me  to  ask  a  question:  When  meetings  are  held  during 
successive  years  in  the  same  place,  do  you  find  the  interest  increase  from  year  to 
year:  and  if  so.  is  this  due  to  the  rearrangement  of  the  programme  -  hange 

the  topics';  In  other  words,  how  do  you  keep  up  the  interest  when  meetings  are 
held  year  after  year  at  the  same  pi 

Mr.  McKerrow.     At  this  time  we  are  not  holding  meetings  five  or  six  years  in 

succession  at  any  point  in  the  State.     That  did  take  place  in  the  first  ten  or  twelve 

years  of  the  work.     Of  course  the  programmes  were  rearranged.     But  quite  often 

those  very  points  where  meetings  had  been  held  eight,  nine,  or  ten  times  would 

ask  as  a  special  favor  that  such  men  as  had  been  there  before  be  sent  again,  and 

would  sometimes  ask  that  the  same  subjects  be  again  discussed.     The  people 

1  not  to  have  had  enough  of  it.     But  we  are  making  a  change  in  that 

b,  so  as  not  to  give  an  institute  meeting  at  the  same  point  more  than  two 

—ion.  though  we  have  had  plenty  of  cases  where  this  has  l>een  asked 

for.     ( )ur  aim  in  Wisconsin  is  not  to  have  a  large  number  of  meetings  but  to 

make  every  meeting  as  strong  as  possible. 

A  DELEGATE.  From  what  distances  do  people  come  by  private  conveyance  to 
get  to  the  meetings'.' 


33 

Mr.  McKerrow.  As  «*i  rule  we  expect  to  gather  our  audience  from  a  radius  of 
about  7  or  8  miles,  but  Borne  people  drive  30  or  25  miles  to  attend  the  meetings. 

Mr.  Creklman.  What  percentage  of  fche  meetings  arc  held  in  the  same  place  for 
two  consecatiye  years? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  think  the  last  four  or  five  years  the  number  lias  been  25  or 

80  per  cent. 

Mr.  Creklman.  Do  yon  keepnp  the  interesi  in  fche  work  when  yon  meet  at  a 

given  place  only  once  in  two  or  three  years? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  There  is  just  the  same  interest  as  if  the  meetings  were  held 
every  year.    We  are  holding  meetings  this  year  at  certain  points  which  are  probably 

5,  6,  T.  8,  or  10  miles  distant  from  where  meetings  were  held  last  year.  We  find  that 
many  of  the  fanners  will  drive  long  distances  in  order  to  take  in  two  or  three 
meetings.  We  are  using  five  corps  of  workers,  and  we  plan  our  work  so  that 
when  meetings  come  within  15  or  20  miles  of  each  other  we  have  different  corps 
of  workers:  and  we  so  arrange  the  circuits  that  meetings  which  are  held  close 
together  are  not  held  at  the  same  time. 

ALASKA,  HAWAII,  PORTO  RICO. 

By  A.  C.  True,  Office  of  Experiment  Stations,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

As  the  list  of  States  has  been  gone  through  with,  I  would  like  to  be  permitted 
to  say  a  word  about  the  work  in  regions  which  have  not  yet  been  referred  to — 
Alaska,  Hawaii,  and  Porto  Rico. 

As  you  know,  we  have  already  established  agricultural  experiment  stations  in 
Alaska,  and  although  it  has  not  been  feasible  to  hold  farmers'  institutes  there  in 
a  regular  way.  still  we  have  made  it  a  point,  where  our  agents  are  going  about 
through  that  vast  territory,  to  have  them  come  in  personal  contact  with  the  people 
who  are  trying  to  promote  agriculture  there,  so  that  the  people  who  are  working 
there  in  a  small  way  to  grow  different  things  may  have  direct  aid  and  encourage- 
ment in  their  efforts.  I  have  reason  to  believe  from  what  I  hear  that  this  item  of 
work  has  been  an  important  factor  in  our  operations  there.  Through  the  per- 
sonal visits  of  our  agents  in  different  parts  of  the  Territory  the  people  have  been 
greatly  encouraged  to  work  in  agricultural  lines. 

In  Hawaii,  as  soon  as  the  experiment  station  was  established  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Department,  our  agent  in  charge  called  a  meeting  of  farmers  and  others 
interested  in  and  near  the  town  of  Honolulu,  and  formed  an  association  to  be 
known  as  the  Farmers'  Institute  of  Hawaii,  and  officers  were  elected.  There 
have  already  been  held  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  under  the  direction  of  that 
association  several  successful  farmers'  institutes,  and  we  hope  to  develop  this 
work  very  greatly  in  the  near  future. 

In  Porto  Rico  the  experiment  station  has  just  secured  a  permanent  location 
near  the  town  of  Mayaguez,  and  there,  as  in  Alaska,  our  agent  has  made  it  a  point 
to  get  in  personal  touch  with  as  many  people  of  the  island  as  possible.  Now  that 
our  station  is  permanently  located,  we  expect  very  soon  to  have  a  regular  organi- 
zation of  farmers'  institutes  and  to  conduct  meetings  in  both  the  English  and  the 
Spanish  language  in  different  parts  of  Porto  Rico. 

I  may  also  add.  to  make  the  matter  better  comprehended,  that  the  plans  for 
the  new  bureau  of  agriculture  in  the  Philippines,  which  will  be  established  under 
the  local  government,  through  the  Commission,  include  not  only  a  number  of 
experiment  stations  and  demonstration  farms,  but  also  the  holding  of  farmers' 
meetings  or  institutes  in  different  regions  in  those  islands,  so  that  I  feel  sure  that 
in  the  near  future  we  shall  have  a  system  of  farmers'  institutes  that  will  actually 
take  in  the  entire  United  States. 

A  recess  was  taken  until  8  p.  m. 

9953— No.  120—02 3 


34 
Evening  Session,  Tuesday,  June  24,1902. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  the  president  at  8  p.  m.,  and  the  five- 
minute  reports  not  previously  presented  were  called  for. 

LOUISIANA. 

By  J.  G.  Lee,  Huh,,,  Rouge. 

The  organization  and  arrangement  of  the  fanners'  institute  work  of  Louisiana 
is  under  the  control  and  direction  of  the  State  hoard  of  agriculture  and  immigra- 
tion, and  directly  under  the  control  of  a  hoard  of  institute  manager-*  consisting  of 
the  president  of  the  state  University  and  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
the  director  of  the  experiment  station  of  the  State,  and  the  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture of  the  Stat.',  tlie  commissioner  of  agriculture  being,  as  I  might  say.  the 
general  director  or  superintendent.  The  people  who  do  the  work  are  selected 
from  the  professors  of  our  agricultural  and  mechanical  college  and  from  the  offi- 
:  tin-  experiment  station.  The  officers  of  the  station  are  generally  the  insti- 
tute conductors.  In  addition  to  these,  local  farmers  and  successful  planters 
throughout  the  State  are  engaged  in  the  work,  and  from  time  to  time  specialists 
from  other  Stales  are  brought  in  to  help  the  work  along. 

A-  commissioner  of  agriculture.  I  had  the  honor  of  inaugurating  the  system  of 
farmers'  institutes  in  Louisiana.  No  appropriation  whatever  was  available  for 
the  work  at  the  beginning,  hut  by  voluntary  effort  on  the  part  of  our  experiment 
station  people  and  our  agricultural  college  people  we  have  undertaken  and  held  a 
number  of  institutes  since  the  year  1896 — six  years.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
legislature  after  that  we  managed  to  secure  an  appropriation  of  $1,500  a  year  to 
carry  on  institute  work.  That  appropriation  has  heen  increased  the  last  two 
years  to  $2,000,  so  that  in  our  institute  work  we  are  now  working  on  an  annual 
appropriation  of  S'2.000. 

Our  institutes  last  generally  one  day.  It  is  our  hope  that  when  the  interest  has 
developed  sufficiently  to  justify  it.  and  there  is  a  demand  for  it.  we  shall  hold  ses- 
sions of  two  days  or  more. 

There  are  two  features  of  the  work  in  Louisiana  which  we  feel  add  greatly  to 
the  henefit  resulting  to  the  people.  One  of  these  is  the  organization  of  permanent 
farmers'  institute  clubs,  if  practicable,  at  points  where  we  have  held  an  institute, 
and  the  other  is  the  organization  of  local  agricultural  fairs,  which  bring  the  peo- 
ple together  in  the  fall  of  the  year  for  the  exhibition  of  the  products  of  the  farm, 
the  orchard,  the  garden,  the  stable,  etc.  The  State  department  of  agriculture 
always  contributes  a  small  amount  of  money  to  the  premium  fund  of  these  organ- 
izations, while  the  police  juries  contribute  also  to  the  expense  of  holding  the  fairs 
and  paying  premiums. 

We  think  that  a  great  deal  of  good  is  coming  to  our  fanners  through  these  local 
fair  associations  and  through  these  local  farmers' institute  clubs.  The  work  is 
growing  in  Louisiana.  Last  year  we  held  4'2  institutes  in  38  parishes  of  the  State. 
This  year  we  shall  be  able  to  hold  45  or  46  institutes  in  about  42  parishes. 

On  account  of  local  conditions  in  Louisiana,  with  which  many  of  you  are  not 
familiar,  ir  is  almost  impracticable  to  do  successful  institute  work  in  many  of  our 
parishes  (comities,  as  you  call  them).  As  a  rule,  we  can  not  do  successful  insti- 
tute work  among  the  large  sugar  planters,  the  large  rice  planters,  or  the  large 
cotton  planters.  It  has  heen  our  aim.  therefore,  to  extend  our  work  as  far  as 
>le  among  the  small  farmers  of  the  State — farmers  owning  their  own  small 
farms  and  d<  dng  their  own  work.  These  people  appreciate  the  work  of  the  insti- 
tute, and  they  need  that  work. 

I  neglected  to  say  that  we  have  a  secretary  and  stenographer  accompanying 


85 

each  institute  corps.     In  this  way  the  questions,  answers,  and  general  discnssiox] 
resulting  From  the  reading  of  each  paper  or  the  delivery  of  each  lecture  at  the 

institute  are  taken  down. 

A  Delegate.  How  many  corps  do  yon  operate? 

Mr.  Lee.  For  the  last  two  years  we  have  operated  three  corps  at  the  same  time 
indifferent  parts  of  the  State.  That  was  necessary  on  account  of  using  in  our 
work  so  many  professors  of  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  college  and  the  experi- 
ment station  people.  These  persona  are  enabled  to  get  away  for  our  work  during 
the  holiday  in  August.  Our  farm  work  is  generally  closed  up  in  July — at  that 
time  the  crops  are  laid  by — and  August  being  an  idle  time  for  the  farmers,  it  is 
considered  a  most  convenient  season  for  our  institutes. 

Returning  to  the  subject  of  our  reports,  let  me  say  that  at  the  end  of  the  insti- 
tute season  the  best  of  the  various  papers  which  have  been  presented  at  the  insti- 
tutes, together  with  the  discussions  and  the  questions  and  answers  following  those 
papers,  as  Btenographically  reported,  are  published  in  a  special  bulletin— the 
farmers'  institute  bulletin— and  distributed  free  to  the  farmers  of  the  State  to  the 
number  of  from  7.000  to  10.000  copies.  We  began  with  the  distribution  of  3,000 
copies. 

The  President.  Are  those  publications  sent  out  without  solicitation  or  do  the 
farmers  apply  for  them? 

Mr.  Lee.  In  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  at  Baton  Rouge  we 
keep  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  clubs  that  I  have  mentioned,  and  among  these 
the  bulletins  are  distributed,  the  expense  being  paid  out  of  a  State  appropriation. 

I  neglected  to  state  that  a  great  deal  of  the  incidental  expense  connected  with 
the  institute  work  is  borne  by  the  board  of  agriculture.  In  this  way  w^e  pay  the 
expense  of  the  stenographic  rep<  >rts  and  also  the  speakers  whom  we  bring  from  other 
States  or  the  notable  men  of  our  own  State  whom  we  employ  to  engage  in  this 
work.  The  services  of  our  professors  and  experiment  station  people  who  engage 
in  this  institute  work  are  entirely  voluntary.  They  receive  no  compensation 
other  than  that  received  from  the  State.     Their  expenses,  however,  are  paid. 

A  Delegate.  Is  the  expense  of  publishing  the  bulletin  paid  out  of  State  funds 
other  than  the  regular  appropriation? 

Mr.  Lee.  If  the  appropriation  for  farmers"  institutes  is  not  sufficient,  we  sup- 
plement that  from  the  general  appropriation.  The  matter  is  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  board  of  agriculture  and  the  board  of  managers  that  I  have  mentioned. 

MICHIGAN. 
By  L.  R.  Taft.  Agricultural  College. 

You  know,  perhaps,  that  some  twenty-five  years  ago  institutes  were  established 
in  Michigan  under  the  direction  of  the  agricultural  college.  The  funds  allowed 
amounted  to  about  $300,  and  the  faculty  did  all  the  work.  This  was  kept  up  for 
some  fifteen  years.  Since  that  time  the  State  has  made  annual  appropriations, 
increasing  from  about  $3,000  to  $7,500  for  the  last  two  years.  Of  this  amount 
$500  goes  to  reading  circles.  The  college  conducts  wiiat  they  call  ••  farm  home 
reading  circles. ' "  This  work  is  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Smith.  We  have, 
in  connection  with  the  county  institute,  societies  in  every  county  where  we  have 
institutes.  They  have  regular  officers.  And  in  addition  to  this  we  have  town- 
ship vice-presidents.  In  sections  where  we  have  one-day  institutes  the  township 
vice-president  wiiere  a  meeting  is  to  be  held  is  called  the  local  manager,  and  the 
county  secretary  arranges  the  institutes. 

We  have,  of  course,  had  to  go  outside  the  college  faculty  for  our  speakers. 
When  the  institute  fund  was  increased  we  had  to  use  at  least  half  as  many  speak- 
ers from  outside  as  we  obtained  from  the  faculty.     Then  in  1895  our  terms  were 


36 

rearranged.     In  our  special  courses  it  was  impossible  for  the  faculty  to  get  away 

to  do  very  much  work,  80  thai  for  the  last  six  years  fully  time-fourths  of  the 
work  has  been  done  by  farmers  and  other  persons  hired  for  the  purpose.  We 
have  paid  from  $3  a  day  to  as  high  as. si  and  $5  a  day ,  besides  expenses.  We  work 
them  rather  hard  the  last  two  or  three  days,  from  the  fact  that  we  have  each 
week  three  I  wro-day  institutes.  In  many  cases  the  speakers  leave  home  on  Satur- 
day nighl  and  arc  away  two  Sundays. 

The  interest  has  increased  for  a  number  of  years,  especially  in  the  one-day  insti- 
tute. The  figures,  both  for  attendance  and  the  number  of  institutes,  show  this 
increase. 

For  each  of  the  past  two  years  we  have  had  0:5  two-day  institutes  in  as  many 
counties,  and  in  some  counties  they  have  been  allowed  to  hold  one-day  institutes 
in  places  of  their  own  choosing. 

Allegan  County  has  had  20  institutes  for  the  last  two  years,  and  the  State  has 
furnished  speakers  for  about  10  of  them.  Other  counties  have  arranged  to  hold 
from  2  to  G  one-day  institutes,  and.  we  have  furnished  each  of  these  with  one 
speaker.  For  the  two-day  institutes  we  furnish  3  speakers,  1  of  them  usually 
being  a  lady  for  the  women's  section.  In  regard  to  this  section  we  have  tried 
several  plans.  We  leave  it  to  the  people  of  the  county  to  determine  whether  they 
will  have  a  women's  section  as  part  of  the  general  session  or  whether  the  women 
shall  have  a  section  by  themselves.  We  have  found  that  in  many  cases  they 
prefer  that  the  women's  section  shall  be  a  part  of  the  general  session.  Where 
the  hall  was  not  large  enough  to  accomodate  all  that  came  in  the  afternoon  we 
have  carried  on  the  separate  sections  for  women  with  very  good  results,  but  in 
many  cases  we  have  found  it  better,  on  account  of  limited  hall  space,  to  have  the 
women  in  a  convention  by  themselves,  and  then  have  all  the  attendants  together 
in  the  evening. 

The  one-day  institutes  for  the  last  year  numbered  183,  which  is  an  increase  of 
42  over  the  previous  year.  The  expenses  have  been  paid  from  the  institute  fund, 
and  we  have  had  sufficient  means  left  to  print  a  report  of  100  pages  and  also  to 
pay  the  expenses  for  a  general  round-up  at  the  close  of  the  season.  This  has  been 
held  for  the  last  two  years  at  the  college,  and  in  order  to  insure  the  attendance  of 
delegates  (we  prefer  to  have  the  secretaries  as  delegates)  the  sum  of  $5  has  been 
allowed  toward  the  expenses  of  each  delegate.  We  have  been  able  to  secure  half 
rates  on  the  railroads  and  reduced  rates  at  the  hotels.  In  many  cases  the  expenses 
have  been  less  than  $5. 

We  wish  to  have  the  delegates  at  the  round-up  in  order  to  have  a  conference 
for  talking  over  matters  in  relation  to  institute  work.  and.  in  fact,  to  arrange  the 
work  of  the  coming  season.  By  that  time  they  have  mapped  out  the  institute 
work  for  the  season. 

We  always  like  to  have  delegates  from  three  counties  come  together  at  the 
same  time,  and  we  are  now  trying  to  have  six  counties  meet  the  same  week,  so 
that  if  necessary  the  speakers  for  the  evening  may  go  to  one  place  one  night  and 
another  place  the  next  night,  to  save  traveling  expenses. 

The  attendance  for  the  last  year  has  been  about  100,000.  We  have  had  actual 
accounts  taken  both  by  the  secretary  and  by  one  of  the  State  speakers  at  every 
institute,  and  we  have  reports  for  all  the  meetings  except  one.  The  total  number 
at  the  two-day  institutes  has  been  about  55,840.  making,  with  the  one  place  for 
which  we  have  not  the  figures,  about  60,000.  At  the  one-day  institutes  we  have 
had  39,000 — very  nearly  40.000— in  attendance,  and  the  expenses  have  been  kept 
separate,  so  that  we  know  about  the  relative  cost.  For  the  two-day  institutes, 
where  we  have  had  to  pay  salaries  and  traveling  expenses,  the  cost  for  the  past 
year  has  been  practically  $3,000.  The  cost  per  unit  of  attendance  has  been  about 
5  cents.  With  the  one  place  for  which  we  have  not  the  figures  the  cost,  as  we 
estimate,  was  a  little  less  than  5  cents  per  person.     For  the  one-day  institute  the 


87 

t«»ial  cost  has  been  in  ronnd  numbers  $1,700,  and  the  cost  per  unit  of  attendance 
has  been  i,  cents.  In  these  cases  we  have  senl  onlj  one  speaker,  while  to  the 
other  instituteswe  Ben1  three.  Frequently  the  speaker  is  entertained  without 
expense.  BuJ  we  are  safe  in  savin-  thai  the  expense  lias  been  practically  5 
cents  per  person  for  the  two-day  institutes  and  I  cents  per  person  at  the  one-day 
institutes. 

I  may  say  thai  we  have  found  some  weas  point-  in  our  system.  We  hope  to 
gel  ideas  from  others  which  will  enable  as  to  overcome  these  weak-  points.  One 
of  the  difficulties  arises  from  the  fad  thai  the  officers,  who  are  required  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  work,  are  unpaid.  Hence,  we  have  not  in  all  cases  secured  the  best 
service.  We  are  considering  whether  we  can  in  any  way  recompense  them  in 
part  forthe  time  and  labor  required.  Another  difficulty  is  thai  with  this  increased 
number  of  one-day  institutes,  which  will  probably  number  next  year  200,  if  we 
are  to  carry  out  the  present  plan,  we  are  short  of  speakers. 

We  find  that  it  requires  more  care  in  choosing-  speakers  for  the  one-day  insti- 
tutes than  for  the  two-day  institutes,  from  the  fact  that  where  there  are  two  or 
three  together  one  can  help  out  another.  When  we  send,  for  instance,  a  stock- 
man to  a  county  where  they  want  to  know  about  fruit,  he  is  often  at  a  loss  to 
answer  the  questions  that  are  put  to  him.  A  one-day  institute  needs  an  all-round 
man  more  than  a  two-day  institute,  and  we  have  some  trouble  in  picking  out  a 
sufficient  number  of  good  men  for  this  purpose. 

Regarding  the  strong  points  of  the  system,  the  fact  that  we  have  this  local 
organization  or  county  organization  has  helped  us  very  much.  It  interests  the 
people.  We  try  to  make  it  appear  to  be  their  institute,  and  we  find  that  they  talk 
about  it  and  plan  for  it  very  much  in  advance.  In  some  cases  they  have  under- 
taken to  secure  exhibits  of  local  products  for  the  meetings,  and  this  has  caused 
more  or  less  enthusiasm  in  regard  to  the  meeting. 

Another  strong  point  is  the  number  of  persons  that  we  have  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing, in  proportion  to  the  expense  incurred,  by  reason  of  the  system  that  I  have 
spoken  of.  By  means  of  the  one-day  institute  and  the  reduced  expenses  for  travel, 
etc..  we  have  been  able  to  reach  the  100,000  persons  that  I  have  mentioned. 

One  puzzling  point  has  been  in  regard  to  the  selection  of  farmers  to  speak  at 
the  meeting.  One  of  the  strong  points  in  our  system,  I  think,  has  been  that  per- 
sons selected  to  speak  have  been,  as  far  as  possible,  visited  for  the  inspection  of 
their  farm  work  without  the  object  of  the  visitor  being  known.  So  far  as  possible, 
one  of  the  professors  will  take  occasion  to  visit  every  proposed  speaker  on  his 
farm,  and  unless  his  work  is  found  to  be  beyond  the  ordinary  he  is  not  invited  as 
a  speaker.  This  has  a  very  good  result  at  the  institute,  for  when  the  speaker  is 
known  to  be  a  successful  farmer  he  is  listened  to  with  much  more  confidence  than 
if  he  is  suspected  of  being  a  "slouch." 

Then,  too,  the  local  institutes  have  had  a  very  good  effect  in  acting  as  feeders 
for  the  county  institutes.  We  like  to  have  these  local  institutes  scattered 
throughout  the  county,  and  if  three  or  four  weeks  in  advance  of  the  meeting  of 
the  county  institute  that  meeting  is  expected,  the  people  become  interested  and 
are  much  more  likely  to  attend  than  if  the  meeting  were  not  thus  talked  cf 
beforehand. 

In  conclusion,  I  might  say  that  there  has  never  been  less  criticism  of  the  institute 
system  than  during  the  present  year. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

By  E.  B.  Voorhees.  New  Brunsurick. 

The  institute  work  in  New  Jersey  has  been  rather  an  evolution  than  anything 
else.     It  has  been  in  progress  for  some  thirty  years,  though  our  organization  has 


38 

qoI  been  called  by  the  name  of  farmers1  institute  until  the  last  six  or  eight 
years.  In  fact,  at  the  time  the  .state  accepted  the  land-grant  fund  there  was 
incorporated  in  the  bill  a  provision  that  the  officers  of  the  agricultural  college 
Bhonld  deliver  at  Least  one  lecture  in  each  county  of  the  State  every  year.  Shortly 
after  that  tin-  State  board  of  agriculture  was  organized,  and  under  the  central 
organization,  which  is  located  at  the  State  capital,  were  county  boards  of  agri- 
culture. Following  the  organization  of  these  county  hoards,  the  professors  in  the 
agricultural  college  went  every  year  to  the  county  hoards  and  delivered  lectures 
upon  the  matters  which  arc  now  generally  attended  to  by  the  institutes. 

Ab<>nt  1892  we  began  what  we  called  regular  institute  work;  but  it  was  carried 
out  and  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the  board  of  agriculture,  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  which  had  charge  of  the  work  of  the  institutes  and  tried  to 
provide  for  directors  and  speakers  and  matters  of  that  sort.  The  expenses  con- 
nected wTith  the  work  of  the  institutes  in  New  Jersey  are  provided  for  by  the 
annual  appropriation  made  to  the  State  board  of  agriculture.  There  is  no  special 
provision  or  appropriation  for  the  institute  work,  and  therefore,  although  we  are 
a  small  State,  the  work  has  been  limited  in  extent. 

The  institutes  now  held  annually  number  about  thirty  or  perhaps  thirty-five. 
These  are  all  in  addition  to  the  work  which  is  done  by  the  agricultural  college  in 
connection  with  the  county  boards  of  agriculture;  that  is.  we  have  our  30  separate 
and  distinct  institutes,  and  in  addition  to  that  the  professors  in  our  agricultural 
college  and  the  officers  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture  attend  the  semiannual 
or  quarterly  meetings  of  the  county  boards  of  agriculture.  If  these  meetings  are 
added  to  the  meetings  provided  for  as  institutes  it  means  probably  a  doubling  of 
the  number  of  the  farmers'  institutes  because  of  the  similarity  of  the  instruction 
afforded. 

The  expenses  of  the  institutes  range  from  $1,000  to  $1,500,  varying  somewhat 
with  the  number  of  meetings  and  with  the  number  of  days  assigned  to  institute 
work  from  year  to  year.  Sometimes  a  certain  locality  will  ask  for  two  days  and 
perhaps  the  next  year  will  ask  for  one  day,  so  that  the  amount  appropriated  by 
the  board  of  agriculture  is  not  uniform. 

The  professors  of  the  agricultural  college  and  the  officers  of  the  experiment 
station  have  always  taken  an  active  part  in  the  institute  work,  and  until  recent 
years  have  done  so  without  any  compensation.  But  recently,  because  of  the  large 
number  of  evening  meetings  which  are  added  to  the  day  meetings,  the  professors 
have  been  allowed  |5  for  each  individual  institute,  and  the  evening  sessions  have 
been  so  arranged  that  the  professors  could  attend  them,  and.  if  possible,  get  back 
to  their  regular  day  work  at  the  college.  In  our  small  State  of  course  this 
is  largely  practicable.  The  small  sum  which  I  have  named  has  been  allowed 
to  cover  extraordinary  expenses,  but  this  allowance  for  expenses  is  a  recent 
innovation. 

The  director  of  the  institutes,  who  is  appointed  by  the  executive  committee  of 
the  State  board,  and  has  been  the  secretary,  received  no  extra  compensation  for  his 
services  until  recently,  when  he  has  been  allowed  $5  for  each  meeting  at  which 
he  makes  an  address. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  expenses  of  our  work  have  not  been  very  heavy,  but  the 
work  has  been  growing  in  interest  and  usefulness,  and  the  numbers  in  attendance 
have  increased.  In  certain  sections  of  the  State,  more  especially  the  northern 
section,  we  have  only  a  small  attendance.  On  the  average  we  have, I  should  say, 
about  forty  for  each  institute,  although  in  a  few  places  the  attendance  reaches 
two  or  three  hundred. 

( )ur  plan  has  been  to  have  the  institutes  associated  in  the  different  counties  with 
the  county  organizations,  making  the  latter  responsible  in  part  for  the  speakers 
and  the  attendance,  and  for  the  advertising  and  things  of  that  sort.     By  reason 


39 

of  th"  existence  of  the  organized  county  boards  it  is  quite  easy  for  as  to  gel  into 
connection  in  each  county  with  Borne  organized  body  directly  interested  in  the 
work,  so  thai  usually  onr  institute  is  held  in  connection  with  the  county  board  of 
agriculture  or  the  special  organization  of  the  county.  These  local  organizations 
arc  very  glad  to  be  connected  with  the  institute  work,  and  by  means  of  the  local 
organizations  we  can  appeal  to  the  people  much  more  effectually  than  if  we  had 
not  such  aid. 

Now  let  me  speak  for  a  moment  in  regard  to  the  method  in  which  the  college 
professors  and  the  experiment  station  workers  assist  us.  We  recognize  this  work 
as  an  educational  movement,  and  we  try  to  have  the  lectures  from  year  to  year 
consecutively  and  logically  connected.  For  exanrple,  a  professor  going  one  year 
into  a  particular  county  and  lecturing  on  the  improvement  of  the  soil  will  follow 
that  up  the  next  year  by  a  lecture  on  fertilizers,  and  the  next  year  by  a  lecture 
on  the  growing  of  particular  crops,  so  that  for  persons  who  attend  faithfully  the 
lectures  are  really  a  course  of  instruction.  By  reason  of  this  system  of  instruc- 
tion we  have  now  in  certain  sections  of  the  State  bodies  of  farmers  who  are  very 
well  educated  in  the  principles  which  underlie  the  practice  of  agriculture. 

Of  course  one  important  question  arising  in  connection  with  our  work  is  the 
relative  usefulness  of  different  speakers.  We  have  always  recognized  the  impor- 
tance of  having  practical  men;  yet  we  want  the  practical  man  to  have  such  a 
knowledge  of  the  principles  underlying  his  business  as  to  enable  him  to  teach  the 
farmers  the  true  connection  between  the  principles  and  practice.  We  want  the 
farmers,  by  means  of  this  instruction,  to  see  not  only  the  facts,  but  the  reasons 
for  those  facts.  In  other  words,  while  we  seek  to  have  practical  men  as  instruc- 
tors, we  want  them  to  be  trained  and  developed  along  the  lines  of  science,  for  the 
man  who  does  the  best  work  in  a  practical  way  is  the  man  who  knows  the  reason 
( <  >r  what  he  does.  We  undertake  right  along  the  line  to  make  our  work  to  the 
fullest  possible  extent  educational. 

In  our  State  we  are  laboring  under  difficulties  which  perhaps  are  not  found  in 
what  are  called  purely  agricultural  countries  or  States  or  counties.  Our  condi- 
tions are  such  as  have  a  general  tendency  in  one  sense  away  from  the  farm.  This 
is  a  distinct  hindrance  to  the  institute  work.  Then,  again,  because  of  our  location, 
we  are  specialists  in  a  certain  sense,  and  that  is  a  line  along  which  we  try  to 
develop  the  industries  of  the  farm.  We  aim,  in  other  words,  not  at  general  farm- 
ing, but  at  special  and  particular  farming.  So  we  are  constantly  trying  to  educate 
farmers  who  shall  be  specialists  in  particular  lines.  We  endeavor  to  show  the 
advantage  of  cultivating  special  crops  and  adopting  special  methods.  This  line 
of  work  has  been  taken  hold  of  by  the  institutes  in  the  last  few  years  and  with 
very  great  success.  We  can  see  that  in  certain  sections  of  our  State,  because  of 
the  institutes  and  of  the  experiment  stations,  new  lines  of  work  have  been  taken 
up.  For  instance,  in  certain  counties  during  the  last  five  years  our  farmers  have 
taken  up  especially  the  growing  of  asparagus.  The  farmers  were  not  successful 
with  the  crops  that  they  were  growing,  and  the  institute  workers  have  said  to 
them,  "Your  land  is  adapted  for  asparagus."  Then  we  have  brought  to  that 
county  those  who  have  grown  asparagus  especially,  to  teach  them  about  the  var- 
ieties and  the  soils  and  the  fertilizers.  In  other  sections  we  have  undertaken  to 
establish  those  industries  which  in  that  particular  locality  were  likely  to  be  most 
successful  financially,  and  much  more  satisfactory  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
development  of  the  farmer  than  the  lines  of  work  in  which  he  had  been  previously 
interested.  We  have  undertaken  to  show  the  fanner  that  the  general  practice 
may  not  be  the  best  practice  for  him  in  the  particular  locality,  but  that  he  should 
seek  the  special  adaptation  of  his  work  to  his  conditions.  In  this  respect  we  feel 
that  progress  has  been  made,  notwithstanding  the  very  many  difficulties  under 
which  we  have  labored. 


LO 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 
By  S.  I,.  Patterson,  Raleigh. 

In  North  Carolina  fche  farmers1  institute  work  has  been  going  on  for  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  years  pasl  with  one  or  two  intermissions;  bnt  I  can  not  say  that 
it  has  been  very  successful,  considering  the  time  over  which  it  lias  extended. 
There  are  difficulties  in  the  way  there,  and  some  of  the  addresses  which  have  been 
made  here  have  touched  opon  some  of  the  difficulties  thai  we  fe<  1  in  our  State. 

(  toe  of  those  difficulties  is  the  limited  time  in  which  it  seems  to  be  practicable 
to  hold  our  institutes.  In  our  country  it  is  not  worth  while  to  try  to  get  the 
farmers  out  during  the  cotton  season.  I  do  not  know  that  they  are  to  be  blamed 
for  Dot  coming  out.  I  think  that  to  begin  about  the  last  of  January  or  the  1st  of 
February  and  continue  till  about  the  1st  or  10th  of  March  is  about  as  much  time 
as  we  can  devote  during  the  winter  and  early  spring  to  this  institute  work.  That 
is  ;  i  l.out  the  only  season,  as  I  have  found,  during  which  the  farmers  will  come  out 
at  all  to  attend  the  meetings.  Then,  again,  we  lay  by  our  crops  later  than  they 
do,  as  has  been  stated  here,  in  Louisiana.  From  about  the  last  of  July  until  the 
1st  of  September  is  about  the  only  time  our  farmers  can  attend  these  institutes 
other  than  during  the  winter  and  early  spring.  The  two  seasons  I  have  named. 
embracing  probably  ten  or  twelve  weeks,  are  about  the  only  portions  of  the  year 
for  which  we  can  with  any  certainty  make  appointments  with  the  expectation  of 
being  met  at  those  appointments  by  the  representative  farmers  of  the  particular 
locality. 

At  one  time  our  law  required  that  the  farmers'  institutes  be  held  in  every 
county  of  the  State  at  least  once  in  every  year,  but  that  was  found  in  many 
localities  entirely  impracticable,  and  so  the  lawT  was  changed.  In  our  State  we 
have  97  counties.  With  our  limited  time  for  institute  work — ten  or  twelve 
weeks,  and  with  only  one  force  of  workers — it  takes  a  long  time  to  get  over  a 
State  of  that  size,  visiting  all  the  counties.  In  fact  I  have  never  yet  been  in  all 
the  counties,  although  I  have  been  holding  institutes  or  trying  to  hold  them  off 
and  on  for  five  or  six  years  past. 

Another  difficulty  is  getting  the  farmers  to  appreciate  the  objects  of  the  insti- 
tute and  inducing  them  to  attend.  I  take  great  interest  in  hearing  from  you  gen- 
tlemen who  have  been  successful  in  this  respect  in  your  States.  I  want  to  learn 
how  you  succeed  in  interesting  the  farmers  and  inducing  them  to  come  out  and 
attend  the  institutes.  Right  here  I  wush  to  ask  my  friend  from  Michigan  [Mr. 
Taft]  whether  in  his  State  they  find  the  second  day's  attendance  at  the  institute 
equal  to  that  of  the  first  day. 

Mr.  Taft.  I  should  say  the  attendance  the  second  day  is  about  double  what  it 
is  the  first. 

Mr.  Patterson.  On  the  contrary  with  us,  and  that  is  one  of  our  discourage- 
ments. Our  meetings,  though  well  attended  the  first  day.  often  drop  off  on  the 
second  day. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  In  Wisconsin  we  find  our  second  day's  meeting  very  much 
better  attended  than  the  first  day's  meeting. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  certainly  must  be  very  encouraging  to  the  institute 
w<  >rkers. 

But  along  with  our  discouragements  we  meet  with  some  encouragement.  For 
instance,  in  one  county  of  our  State,  where  I  think  we  have  had  about  four  insti- 
tutes during  the  last  few  years,  and  where  we  are  preparing  for  another — for  it 
is  one  of  the  best  counties  in  the  State,  where  there  are  some  of  our  most  intelli- 
gent citizens — we  have  been  introducing  of  late  a  feature  which  has  been  found 
interesting,  and  which  I  think  will  increase  the  attendance  on  the  part  of  the 
tanners.     I  refer  to  stereopticon  views  given  at  night  by  the  State  entomologist 


41 

and   by  one  of  the   professors  in   our  college.     These   views  are   found   very 
interesting. 

So  tar  as  concerns  the  general  work  of  the  institute  and  Its  value  to  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  the  State,  it  is  my  judgment  thai  if  the  farmers  of  a  section 
c  m  be  induced  to  attend  the  institute,  and  if  the  institute  is  properly  conducted, 
tlif  institute  system  is  really  of  more  advantage  as  an  educational  factor  in  farm- 
ing than  tlie  agricultural  college. 

OHIO. 
By  W.  W.  Miller,  Columbus. 

The  farmers'  institute  work  in  Ohio,  as  in  other  States  that  have  reported,  lias 
grown  from  small  beginnings.  The  Ohio  state  hoard  of  agriculture  was  organized 
in  1846.    Soon  after  its  organization  some-of  its  members  advocated  the  holding 

of  farmers1  meetings,  variously  termed  farmers'  clubs  and  other  names,  at  which 
the  science  of  agriculture  was  discussed.  These  meetings  were  continued  inter- 
mittently during  a  period  of  years  until  the  professor  of  agriculture  in  the  Ohio 
State  university  and  the  secretary  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture  began  the 
holding  of  meetings  independently,  without  special  appropriations  and  without 
special  encouragement.  Later  on.  in  the  early  eighties,  the  State  hoard  of  agri- 
culture made  an  appropriation  from  its  limited  resources  of  $1,000  per  annum, 
and  employed  some  speakers,  besides  obtaining  the  voluntary  services  of  other 
speakers.  The  thousand  dollars  was  used  for  the  expenses  of  these  meetings  and 
for  the  payment  of  such  speakers  as  had  to  receive  remuneration.  Subsequently 
this  appropriation  was  increased  to  $3,000  a  year.  The  farmers'  institutes  gradu- 
ally drew  about  them  friends  and  supporters,  so  that  in  1890  the  general  assembly 
of  the  State  enacted  a  law  authorizing  the  holding  of  fanners'  institutes  under  the 
auspices  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture,  and  made  provision  for  the  expenses  of 
those  institutes.  The  provisions  of  our  State  in  this  respect  art1.  I  think,  a  little 
different  from  those  of  any  other  State  of  the  Union.  With  us  the  expenses  are 
borne  by  the  counties,  not  by  the  State.  There  is  a  per  capita  allowance  of  6  mills 
for  institute  purposes — not  to  exceed,  however.  $250  in  any  one  county.  We  have 
in  our  State  eighty-eight  counties:  so  that  we  receive  in  the  aggregate  $16,700  in 
round  numbers  from  this  per  capita  allowance.  Half  of  this  is  available  for 
local  expenses  of  farmers'  institutes  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  board:  the 
other  half  goes  directly  to  the  board  for  the  payment  of  its  various  expenses:  so 
that  we  have  $8,300  or  $8,400.  The  various  societies  in  the  State  have  an  equal 
amount.  We  vary  somewhat  in  our  methods.  We  are  all  addicted  to  our  own 
peculiar  manner  of  proceeding.  We  have  local  management,  so  far  as  is  possible, 
with  central  control.  The  officers  of  the  institutes  are  chosen  by  the  societies, 
which  are  organized  according  to  law  and  the  rules  of  the  State  board  of  agri- 
culture. They  conduct  the  meeting,  except  that  the  speakers  are  provided  and 
the  dates  and  places  for  holding  the  meetings  fixed  by  the  central  authority,  which 
is.  as  you  know,  where  the  work  is  in  the  hands  of  a  board,  the  executive  officer  of 
the  board  or  its  secretary. 

We  are  now  holding  in  Ohio  from  two  to  four  regular  institutes  in  each  county. 
making  250  or  260  two-day  meetings,  in  addition  to  the  independent  meetings, 
which  are  held  by  the  same  societies  during  the  seasons  or  years  in  which  the 
State  does  not  give  assistance.     So  that  we  have  about  300  meetings  in  all. 

We  supply  to  those  meetings  two  lecturers  employed  by  the  State  board  of 
agriculture,  who  are  jointly  responsible  with,  the  local  officers  for  the  proper  con- 
duct of  the  institute,  so  that  nothing  may  be  introduced  that  will  be  objectionable 
to  the  State  speakers,  supposing  it  possible  that  the  local  institutes  would  permit 
such  a  thing. 

We  employ  at  the  present   time  as  lecturers  educated,   cultivated,  practical 


42 

farmers.  In  fche  early  history  of  the  work,  and  in  fact  until  quite  recently,  we 
received  most  valuable  assistance  from  the  director  of  the  experiment  station  and 
his  staff,  and  from  the  professors  of  the  college  of  agriculture  in  the  Ohio  State 

university.  Bnt  their  duties  have  become  so  arduous  during  recent  years  that 
they  can  not  well  take  a  specified  assignment. 

We  are  peculiar  in  this,  that  we  must  have  a  week's  work  if  we  have  any;  and 
we  prefer  having  several  weeks  continuously.  As  the  professors  could  not  com- 
ply with  this  requirement,  they  are  now  devoting  their  time  to  helping  out  what 
we  term  our  independent  meetings,  or  those  to  which  we  do  not  supply  speakers 
and  which  do  not  receive  local  aid.  unless  there  should  be  a  surplus  from  the  fund 
after  the  regular  institutes  are  held.  In  that  case  I  issue  an  order  enabling  them 
to  draw  the  residue,  which  sometimes  is  sufficient  to  pay  their  local  expenses. 

We  have  received  most  excellent  assistance  from  our  educated  friends  in  the 
college  and  the  station:  but  as  I  said  before,  they  are  now  devoting  their  work 
to  independent  meetings  and  to  supplementing  our  speakers  as  opportunity  may 
arise.  They  can  usually  attend  the  Friday  and  Saturday  meetings  better  than 
those  on  any  <  >ther  days  « >f  the  week,  and  they  do  take  part  in  that  way  considerably. 

The  greatest  difficulty  we  have  had  to  contend  with  in  Ohio  has  been  the  cen- 
tralization of  power  in  the  matter  of  fixing  dates  and  assigning  speakers.  That 
difficulty,  however,  is  fast  disappearing.  In  fact,  we  have  now  no  trouble  in  that 
respect  worthy  of  mention.  Indeed,  we  have  not,  perhaps,  trouble,  so  to  speak, 
at  any  time:  but  there  has  been  a  disposition  to  feel  that  arbitrary  methods  were 
used  when  not  absolutely  necessary. 

The  meetings  are  held.  I  should  have  said,  in  the  three  winter  months,  begin- 
ning as  nearly  as  may  be  on  the  first  of  December  and  closing  as  near  as  may  be 
on  the  first  of  March,  with  one  week  out  for  a  State  meeting,  at  which  we  expect 
the  attendance  of  all  institute  workers  and  a  goodly  number  of  persons  interested 
in  institute  work  from  different  parts  of  the  State. 

So  that  we  are  having  no  difficulty  now  along  any  line  except  in  the  matter  of 
providing  buildings  large  enough  to  hold  the  people  who  want  to  attend  the  insti- 
tutes. Our  experience  is,  like  that  reported  from  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  that 
our  second  days  are  better  days,  with  larger  attendance,  than  the  first  days.  If 
we  ever  have  a  small  attendance  it  is  on  the  forenoon  of  the  first  day.  The  meet- 
ings on  the  afternoon  and  evening  of  the  first  day  and  all  the  meetings  of  the  sec- 
ond day  are  usually  limited  only  by  the  size  of  the  buildings. 

Since  I  have  had  control  of  the  work  I  have  insisted  that  no  two  speakers  should 
travel  together  for  longer  than  one  week  at  a  time.  I  do  this  as  a  mercy  to  the 
speakers.  I  know  that  in  some  of  the  other  States  you  have  different  methods. 
Some  of  your  speakers  travel  together  all  winter.  But  we  do  not  have  men  quite 
good  enough  for  that,  and  I  never  allow  two  men  to  travel  together  more  than 
one  week,  so  that  if  a  man  works  through  the  winter — that  is.  if  he  works  twelve 
weeks — he  works  during  that  time  with  twelve  different  associates. 

We  have  not  in  Ohio  the  possibility  of  devoting  one  man's  time  to  the  work. 
Thi-  work  is  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture,  and 
he  does  not  at  any  time  visit  the  institutes,  because  he  has  not  time  to  do  so.  He 
tries  to  keep  his  hands  on  the  keyboard  and  to  know  what  his  institute  lecturers 
are  doing.  He  gets  the  reports  from  the  lecturers,  from  the  officers,  and  from 
various  sources.  He  tries  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  work  and  to  have  good  work. 
Our  work  is  growing  and  is  better  appreciated  to-day  than  at  any  previous  time. 

A  Delegate.  What  is  the  compensation  of  your  speakers? 

Mr.  Miller.  The  compensation  of  our  speakers,  like  all  other  things,  is  brought 
d<  >wn  to  rule.  We  do  not  employ  any  more  than  two  speakers  for  any  one  meet- 
ing. We  pay  every  man  for  the  first  year's  work  $4  a  day  and  expenses,  and  we 
pay  everybody  that  we  keep  on  our  list  after  the  first  year  $5  a  day. 

I  know  some  of  you  feel  and  some  of  our  own  people  have  said  that  some  speak- 


43 

ers  are  worth  a  good  deal  more  than  that  amount;  trai  our  board  has  been  con- 
servative in  this  matter  and  docs  not  pay  more  than  $5  a  day  to  anybody  and  do 
less  than  si  a  day  to  anybody.  We  are  experimenting  with  new  speakers  every 
year.  Many  of  them  never  receive  more  than  si  a  day,  because  theyare  not 
reengaged:  but  it'  reengaged  they  go  on  the  $6  list. 

WASHINGTON'. 
By  W.  J.  Spillman.  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

The  President.  Prof.  W.  J.  Spillman,  Agrostologist  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  formerly  of  the  Washington  Experiment  Station,  has  been 
asked  to  make  the  report  from  the  State  of  Washington. 

Mr.  Spillman.  The  remarks  of  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  have  spoken  here 
to-night  show  that  in  their  States  farmers'  institute  work  is  well  developed,  but 
in  the  State  of  Washington  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  our  development  in  this 
respect.  In  our  State  there  has  never  been  any  appropriation  by  the  State  legisla- 
ture for  farmers'  institute  work,  because  no  such  appropriation  has  been  sought — 
at  least  not  very  vigorously.  Although  there  has  never  been  any  organization  of 
any  kind  with  reference  to  our  farmers'  institute  work,  yet  a  number  of  farmers 
from  Illinois  and  other  Eastern  States  have  said  that  our  farmers'  institute  com- 
pared very  favorably  with  those  of  Eastern  States. 

The  fanners  in  the  State  of  Washington  have  come  mostly  from  the  Eastern 
States.  They  represent  that  class  of  men  who  read,  and  they  have  been  attracted 
to  our  State  by  what  they  have  read  in  regard  to  its  resources  and  possibilities. 

These  men,  having  learned  of  farmers'  institutes  in  the  East,  began  to  request 
us  at  the  agricultural  college  and  the  experiment  station  to  come  out  and  give 
them  a  farmers'  institute.  As  we  had  no  funds  that  could  be  used  for  this  purpose, 
we  offered  to  come  and  hold  institutes  and  give  them  lectures  provided  they  would 
pay  our  expenses.  So  at  a  number  of  meetings  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
the  hat  passed  around  for  my  benefit.  That  sort  of  thing  was  not  at  all  pleasant, 
and  it  frequently  happened  that  we  institute  speakers  paid  our  own  expenses.  As 
our  State  is  500  miles  long,  and  we  frequently  have  to  travel  500  miles  to  an  insti- 
tute at  a  4-cent  rate,  you  will  see  that  it  has  been  no  sinecure  to  be  an  institute 
conductor  in  that  State.  After  awhile  the  college  authorities  provided  the  money 
to  pay  for  expenses,  provided  the  communities  would  meet  the  local  expenses. 
When  an  institute  is  held  in  a  given  community  that  community  is  required  to 
furnish  a  hall,  to  do  the  local  advertising,  and  to  entertain  the  speakers  while  in 
attendance  at  the  institute — to  provide  them  with  board  and  lodging.  Very  fre- 
quently we  are  obliged  to  "  board  around,"  as  the  schoolmasters  used  to  do  in  the 
olden  times  in  New  England,  and  in  this  way  we  have  some  interesting  experi- 
ences. 

Although  there  is  in  our  State  no  organization  of  farmers'  institute  workers, 
no  organized  body  for  conducting  the  farmers' institutes,  the  law  does  require  the 
State  agricultural  college  and  the  experiment  station  to  conduct  farmers'  insti- 
tutes. This  is  named  as  one  of  their  duties,  and  they  have  been  doing  it  for  a 
good  many  years. 

One  thing  I  have  noticed,  that  none  of  you  gentlemen  have  mentioned,  is  the 
interest  that  the  railroads  take  in  these  institutes.  In  the  States  of  Washington 
and  Oregon  some  of  the  large  railroad  companies  employ  speakers  to  lecture  to  the 
farmers  on  agricultural  topics.  They  even  go  farther  than  that:  for  instance, 
they  import  free  of  charge  dairy  cattle  in  order  to  encourage  the  dairy  industry, 
and  they  do  other  things  in  the  same  direction.  I  myself  have  gone  on  institute 
trips  at  the  expense  of  the  railroad  company,  riding  in  a  private  car  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  railroad  companies,  out  there  in  that  new  country,  understand  that  the 
farmers'  institute  is  an  effort  to  develop  the  agricultural  resources  of  the  country, 


44 

and  they  are  earnestly  cooperating  in  that  direction.  The  railroad  nien  are  hard- 
headed,  practical  men,  and  when  they  see  the  good  result  that  is  to  come  from 
tliis  species  of  work,  they  want  t<»  enconrage  it.  One  railroad  in  Oregon  and 
Washington  has  spent  thousands  of  dollars  in  farmers'  institute  work — more 
than  both  the  States  pnt  together.  They  pay  a  man,  say,  $1,000  a  year  whose 
principal  duty  is  to  look  after  the  farmers"  institute.  Another  railroad  has  kept 
a  man  employed  at  slot)  a  month:  and  through  that  man's  exertions  farming  in 
one  very  rich  section  has  been  revolutionized.  The  farmers  there  had  been  grow- 
ing grain  and  nothing  else  for  about  fifty  years.  I  refer  to  the  Willamette  Val- 
ley in  (  hregon.  He  went  down  there  and  got  the  farmers  excited,  and  as  a  result 
dairy  cows  doubled  in  price  within  less  than  a  year,  and  now  dairying  has  become 
a  leading  industry  in  that  valley. 

In  the  State  of  Washington  we  hold  about  30  meetings  a  year.  The  average 
attendance  would  be  perhaps  60,  varying  all  the  way  from  25  to  600.  Recently  I 
accidentally  hit  upon  a  method  of  getting  a  crowd  to  attend  the  institute  meet- 
ings. I  held  eight  farmers'  institutes,  having  an  attendance  of  from  150  to  300. 
The  way  we  got  a  crowd  there  was  by  announcing  that  we  were  going  to  distrib- 
ute small  packages  of  seed  at  the  institute.  The  farmers  came  out  by  the 
hundreds. 

Mr.  McKekrow.  You  could  not  get  Wisconsin  farmers  ont  in  that  way. 

Mr.  SPELLMAN.  The  Wisconsin  farmers  may  be  wiser.  In  the  western  part  of 
the  United  States,  particularly  in  those  sections  that  have  recently  been  settled, 
the  farmers  do  not  know  what  they  can  grow.  They  have  a  fertile  soil  but  do 
not  know  its  resources,  hence  they  will  try  anything  new  in  the  way  of  seed  that 
you  will  recommend  to  them,  and  as  a  rule  they  have  followed  our  recommenda- 
tions in  a  very  satisfactory  manner. 

When  we  began  our  farmers'  institutes  there  were  2.000.000  acres  of  valuable 
agricultural  land  devoted  to  wheat  growing.  Three- fourths  <  >f  this  had  never  had 
any  other  crop;  had  been  in  wheat  for  fifteen  to  twenty  years.  As  the  result  of 
our  farmers'  institute  work  there  have  been  within  the  last  six  months  probably 
2,000  head  of  pure-bred  beef  cattle  and  some  dairy  cattle  shipped  into  that  coun- 
try. There  were  13  carloads  that  went  out  at  one  time  to  one  county.  When  we 
began  there  was  not  an  acre  of  tame  grass  of  any  kind  in  the  county  in  which  we 
began,  except  a  little  timothy  in  the  lowlands.  Now  there  are  thousands  of  acres 
of  grass  in  that  county.  By  reason  of  the.  change  in  the  system  of  farming,  pros- 
perity has  been  brought  to  a  country  which  was  in  a  pretty  ' '  hard  fix ' '  when  the 
price  of  wheat  went  down  to  18  cents  a  bushel. 

Report  of  the  Treasurer. 

The  report  of  the  treasurer  was  submitted  by  Gr.  C.  Creelman.  of  Ontario,  as 
follows: 

Treasurer's  statement. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance  from  1901 $40.40 

Annual  dues: 

Maryland 5.00 

Florida . 5. 00 

Minnesota 5. 00 

Pennsylvania 5.  00 

Wisconsin 5.00 

( )ntari<  • 5. 00 

Michigan 5. 00 

Indiana T).  00 

Total $80.40 


45 

I  XPEI  DFTUREB. 

Expenses  of  the  meeting  in  Buffalo,  including  stenographic  report  $85.00 

Express,  75  cents;  telegraph,  60  cents;  telephone,  $1.80     - 2.  55 

Typewriting,  stationery,  and  postage  daring  year     96.00 

Programmes 10. 50 

Total - 74.05 

Balance  on  hand 6.86 

On  motion  tin-  report  of  the  treasurer  was  adopted  and  ordered  placed  on  file. 
The  president  called  upon  President  R.  W.  Silvester,  of  the  Maryland  Agricul- 
tural College,  to  address  the  convention. 

ADDRESS  OF  R.  W.  SILVESTER. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  with  very  great  pleasure  that 
I  find  this  convention  of  farmers*  institute  workers  gathered  here  in  our  national 
capital,  inasmuch  as  I  fully  realize  that  in  this  particular,  as  in  every  other,  in 
counsel  there  is  wisdom.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not  desirable  that  we  should 
measure  the  comparative  merits  of  the  different  agencies  which  are  at  work  for 
the  purpose  of  elevating  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  State.  I  feel  that  they 
are  all  working  together  for  the  same  object,  and  will  no  doubt  in  the  end  reduce 
the  whole  line  of  instruction  to  a  logical  order. 

As  has  been  stated  here  this  evening,  the  institute  work  in  the  United  States  of 
America  to-day  is  something  that  can  not  be  replaced  by  any  other  agency.  It 
reaches  a  class  of  people  that  we  can  not  expect  to  be  reached  by  the  agricultural 
college,  the  experiment  station,  or  any  other  agency  in  existence.  I  am  speaking 
with  reference  to  the  interests  of  the  farmers — those  who  are  actually  at  work  in 
the  field.  As  has  been  said  by  someone  in  discussing  this  matter,  the  farmers' 
institute  is  the  missing  link  between  the  farmer  on  the  one  hand  and  the  agricul- 
tural college  and  the  experiment  station  on  the  other.  I  agree  with  that  remark 
fully  and  completely. 

Agricultural  education  is  of  comparatively  recent  development,  and  we  must 
not  expect  too  much  in  the  way  of  results  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  years.  The 
work  of  the  agricultural  college  and  the  experiment  station  is  not  only  an  evolu- 
tion, but  a  revolution.  Twenty  years  ago — yes,  ten  years  ago — yes,  probably  eight 
years  ago,  it  was  thought  in  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College  that  a  man  who 
came  there  to  give  any  information  from  a  book  should  be  absolutely  excluded. 
Before  a  profession  can  be  established  in  connection  with  any  subject  there  must 
be  a  literature  of  that  subject,  and  it  must  be  reduced  to  a  pedagogic  form.  This 
is  absolutely  necessary  in  the  development  of  any  other  profession.  The  literature 
of  this  profession  is  established  through  our  national  organization  here  in  Wash- 
ington. This  literature  is  coming  to  be  reduced  in  a  great  measure  to  a  pedagogic 
form,  and  we  are  realizing  what  agricultural  education  means. 

The  organization  represented  here  to-night  is  an  important  factor  in  the  devel- 
opment of  agriculture.  Judging  from  the  ability  shown  in  the  discussions  here, 
and  from  what  I  have  heard  and  read  of  the  progress  of  this  work  throughout  the 
entire  country,  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  see  it  placed  on  a  proper  footing. 

You  are  here  to-night  from  widely  scattered  sections  of  this  Union,  and  as  a 
representative  of  this  particular  locality  I  feel  that  I  am  authorized  to  welcome 
you  to  the  national  capital  as  also  to  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College.  We 
shall  be  most  happy  to  see  you  there,  and  we  sincerely  trust  you  will  pay  us  a  visit. 
It  is  true  that  we  can  not  show  you  such  magnificent  grounds  and  buildings 
you  have  for  your  agricultural  colleges  in  the  West.     We  have  had  very  insuffi- 


46 

cieni  means  with  which  to  work.  Our  State  appropriates  for  its  agricultural  col- 
•  lie  munificent  sum  of  $9,000  per  annum.  Hence  we  have  been  compelled  to 
work  in  a  rery  small  way.  But  I  am  glad  to  say  that  our  State  is  becoming  a 
littlf  more  liberal.  Our  director  of  fanners"  institutes  commenced  on  $3,000  a 
year.  Hi-  work  was  so  good  and  it  claimed  such  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  the  State  that  he  is  now  receiving  (4,000,  and  we  believe  that  in  a  very 
slxat  time— probably  at  the  very  next  session  of  the  legislature — he  will  reach  the 
munition  of  his  hopes  in  an  appropriation  of  $5,000.  As  our  work  progresses 
we  exp  <-t  to  .In  something  in  keeping  with  the  magnificent  agricultural  interests 
of  this  country.  It  will  give  me  pleasure  to  receive  you  all  at  our  college,  but  I 
warn  you  t  hat  you  must  not  expect  to  find  there  anything  in  the  way  of  buildinge. 
appliances,  etc..  to  compare  with  what  you  have  out  in  Ohio.  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  or  Washington  State. 

1  thank  you  all  very  much  for  the  warmth  of  the  reception  you  have  given  me. 
and  I  trust  sincerely  that  during  your  stay  here  you  will  give  me  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  you  at  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College. 

.Morning  Session,  Wednesday,  June  25,  1902. 

The  convention  assembled  at  9  a.  m.  The  morning  was  devoted  to  discussion 
of  the  following  subjects:  "The  farmers' institute  worker "'  (see  page  59):  "The 
farmers'  institute  as  a  factor  in  creating  a  desire  for  an  agricultural  education  " 
(see  page  68  I ,  and  "  The  fanners'  institute  as  a  promoter  of  closer  intimacy  between 
farmers  and  experiment  stations  "  (see  page  78). 

At  12.30  p.  m.  the  convention  took  a  recess  until  8  p.  m. 

Evening  Session,  Wednesday,  June  25,  1902. 

At  this  session  the  following  topics  were  discussed:  "  Teaching  agriculture  in 
the  public  schools  "?  (see  page  8-1),  and  "How  may  the  farmers'  organizations 
hasten  the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  the  public  schools  "  (see  page  89). 

The  Honorable  Secretary  of  Agriculture  was  introduced  and  spoke  as  follows: 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  JAMES  WILSON. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  I  did  not  jot  anything  down  on  paper  to 
bring  before  you  to-night.  My  head  is  chock  full  of  these  things  all  the  while, 
and  I  think  I  will  just  talk  about  what  suggests  itself  to  my  mind. 

Some  years  ago  the  people  who  handled  tobacco  wanted  the  Department  to  tell 
them  something  about  tobacco  growing  in  certain  localities  and  how  to  produce 
certain  kinds.  The  question  became  an  interesting  one.  I  began  to  look  into  it. 
We  sell  nearly  S30.000.000  worth  of  tobacco  every  year,  most  of  it  very  cheap  and 
poor,  and  we  buy  S14.000.000  worth  of  the  finest  tobacco  in  the  world.  Some  of 
our  people  are  able  to  make  very  valuable  cigars.  I  remember  hearing  of  a 
Cuban  down  in  Florida  who  was  supposed  to  know  something  of  the  A  B  C  of 
tobacco.  I  went  to  Florida  to  find  out  all  about  the  matter  and  I  found  that  ths 
people  there  who  were  supposed  to  know  all  about  this  subject  did  not  know  any- 
thing but  what  their  fathers  had  known,  and  their  fathers  did  not  know  anything 
bur  what  rheir  grandfathers  had  told  them. 

Then  I  called  on  the  scientists  of  our  Department  and  said:  "  Gentlemen,  have 
any  of  you  an  answer  to  the  question  why  one  cigar  sells  for  2  cents  and  another 
for  50  cents?  "  The  answer  was  "No."  I  said:  "  The  dairymen  have  determined 
what  it  is  that  flavors  butter  and  what  it  is  that  ripens  the  cheese.  Now  what  is 
it  that  flavors  tobacco,  do  you  suppose?  "     The  answer  was,  "  We  do  not  know; 


47 

we  have  not  gone  into  that  question."  I  said:  "Lei  as  go  into  it."  So  our  peo- 
ple went  into  it.  They  found  that  the  bacteria  that  flavor  butter  do  noi  flavor 
cigars;  that  in  tobacco  there  la  do  such  thing  aa  bacteria;  bacteria  can  not  live 
there.  We  made  further  inquiry.  We  wanted  a  man  who  could  lake  the  leaf  of 
the  tobacco  plant,  analyze  it,  and  tell  us  what  it  contained.  We  got  a  German 
scientist  who  had  just  come  to  this  country.  Dr.  Babcock,of  Wisconsin,  had  dis- 
covered that  the  principle  which  ripens  cheese  is  a  fermenl  found  in  the  milk;  this 
man  discovered  that  the  principle  which  is  instrumental  in  curing  tobacco  isa  fer- 
ment. Well,  we  had  made  so  much  progress.  About  thai  time  along  came  the 
Japanese  Government  and  offered  this  man  $7,000  a  year  and  took  him  to  Japan. 
So  my  work  stopped  then  and  therewith  regard  to  the  investigation  of  thetobacco 
leaf. 

Then  I  called  on  the  great  universities  of  the  country.  We  are  a  great  educa- 
tional people;  you  must  always  remember  that.  If  you  look  at  your  taxes 
you  will  find  about  half  the  money  goes  for  education.  I  wanted  a  chemist  to 
come  and  analyze  the  tobacco  leaf  and  tell  me  what  it  contains.  Do  you  suppose 
I  could  find  one?  No,  of  course  not.  There  has  not  been  any  education  of  that 
kind  carried  on  for  the  benefit  of  the  farmers.  Of  course  not.  I  undertook  to 
bring  over  from  Johns  Hopkins  some  man  who  could  analyze  the  tobacco  leaf. 
Did  I  get  such  a  one?  Of  course  not.  Johns  Hopkins  does  not  do  that  kind  of 
business.  Johns  Hopkins  teaches  animal  pathology,  but  not  plant  pathology. 
We  took  some  of  those  doctors  of  chemistry,  with  the  degree  from  Johns  Hopkins, 
and  put  them  under  our  plant  physiologists  and  pathologists,  so  that  they  might 
learn  something  about  the  chemistry  of  a  tobacco  leaf.  And  we  are  still  waiting; 
we  are  just  holding  right  on. 

We  have  shown  the  people  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  how  to  grow  $0,000,000 
worth  of  wrapper  tobacco  that  we  formerly  got  from  the  Dutch  who  live  in 
Sumatra;  but  we  have  not  been  able  to  show  anybody  how  to  grow  $8,000,000 
worth  of  fine  tobacco  such  as  we  get  mostly  from  Cuba.  We  are  at  work  along 
those  lines. 

We  had  our  physicists  go  to  work  to  find  out  what  we  wanted  to  know.  We 
could  find  soil  similar  to  the  fine  Cuban  soil  where  the  tobacco  grows.  I  wanted 
a  soil  physicist.  I  hunted  all  over  America.  I  thought  that  one  whom  we  found 
in  Wisconsin,  Professor  King,  might  come  over  here. 

We  found  it  necessary  to  educate  our  own  people  along  those  lines.  We  have 
found  a  place  in  Pennsylvania  where  the  soil  looks  like  the  fine  soil  of  Cuba,  and 
we  are  trying  whether  we  can  grow  fine  tobacco  there  so  as  to  save  Uncle  Sam 
$8,000,000  that  he  is  now  paying  out  for  that  fine  Cuban  tobacco.  We  found 
another  place  in  Ohio,  another  in  Texas,  another  in  North  Carolina,  with  a  fine 
soil  that  we  suppose  might  raise  this  fine  tobacco.  We  are  trying  the  experiment 
there.  We  are  going  to  work  away  and  try  to  educate  somebody  that  can  analyze 
the  juices  of  the  tobacco  leaf,  so  that  finally  we  may  save  Uncle  Sam  a  great 
amount  of  money  that  he  is  now  spending  abroad  for  foreign  tobacco.  We 
received  three  cigars  the  other  day  from  the  Texas  Experiment  Station.  In  a 
great  many  regards  they  are  as  fine  as  the  Cuban  cigar,  but  they  are  a  little  too 
strong.  We  must  experiment  all  along  the  line  down  there.  We  must  try 
whether  we  can  not  get  a  milder  cigar.  Why  are  those  cigars  from  Texas  so 
strong?  I  do  not  know.  No  chemist  can  tell  me.  because  there  is  no  chemist 
who  can  analyze  the  juices  of  that  cigar  and  tell  me  why  it  is  a  little  too  strong. 
Perhaps  the  cause  is  one,  two,  three,  four,  or  a  half  dozen  ferments  in  there. 
But  we  do  not  know  why  there  happens  to  be  more  ferment  in  one  leaf  than 
another. 

The  farther  you  pursue  these  investigations  the  more  the  wilderness  stretches 
out  before  you,  presenting  things  that  we  never  saw  nor  heard  of. 


48 

The  object  of  this  rambling  talk  is  to  show  you  how  far  we  are  behind  in  edu- 
cation. We  have  tin-  old-fashioned  "Old  Country  "  education  over  here.  We 
have  borrowed  the  most  of  it.  It  was  invented  and  organized  long  ago.  The 
object  of  a  college  in  old  times  was  to  train  preachers.  Now  they  have  enlarged 
ipe  of  the  college,  and  they  educate  men  for  what  we  understand  to-day  as 
the  iirofr-sic.il>.  such  as  the  lawyer,  the  doctor,  the  dentist,  etc.  Men  spend 
immense  sums  of  money  for  education  along  those  lines.  We  have  more  pro- 
oals  than  we  have  jobs  for;  and  the  fellow  who  acts  as  brakeinan  on  a  rail- 
r-  ad  gets  in.  nv  ni«  .nev  •  m  the  average  than  the  professional  that  has  been  educated 
in  some  of  those  fine  coll.  . 

Now  we  rind  it  necessary  when  we  take  up  this  work  in  our  department  to  edu- 
cate men  to  do  the  work:  otherwise  it  can  not  be  done.  We  have  found  this  an 
absolute  necessity.  We  have  a  large  number  of  young  men  and  women  now 
being  trained  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  simply  l>ecause  the  colleges  and 
the  universities  ar^  not  giving  the  kind  of  education  that  we  require. 

You  remember  that  the  farmers  organized  themselves  into  so -ieties  known  as 
••  granges;"  and  they  brought  to  bear  their  influence  upon  Congress  to  induce  it 
to  give  us  a  grant  of  land  to  establish  agricultural  colleges.  Well,  we  got  that 
grant.  Each  State  received  40,OOO°acres  of  land  or  the  equivalent,  and  from  the 
proceeds  of  that  land-grant  colleges  have  been  established.  It  did  not  occur  to 
us  then  that  we  had  anything  more  to  do.  We  assumed  that  if  we  only  got  the 
colleges  established,  teachers  would  be  educated  for  agriculture  all  along  the  line. 
We  know  now  how  few  teachers  this  country  has:  how  very  few  teachers  there 
are  anywhere. 

Some  of  those  colleges  have  done  grand  work,  as  they  happened  to  have  grand 
men  or  women  in  them.  Some  of  them  had  boards  of  trustees  or  faculties  who. 
while  they  would  not  break  the  laws  either  of  God  or  man.  had  no  hesitation  at 
all  in  taking  the  money  given  by  Congress  for  the  education  of  the  farmer  and 
applying  it  to  the  education  of  anybody  else  who  wanted  to  be  educated  in  any 
other  direction. 

Now.  you  can  not  educate  a  man  in  all  the  sciences  that  relate  to  agriculture  if 
you  wait  until  he  has  gone  through  the  primary  school  and  the  secondary  school 
and  the  grammar  school.  The  college  that  is  to  educate  a  man  must  go  to  work 
and  educate  him  in  the  sciences  relating  to  agriculture  all  along  the  line.  What 
a  pretense  to  undertake  to  educate  him  in  all  these  things  after  he  has  graduated 
in  some  college!  Humbug!  It  never  has  been  done.  You  must  begin  with  the 
child  and  educate  him  for  his  future  life  work. 

general  proposition,  the  young  man  will  not  go  to  college  unless  you  put  on 
the  shelf  some  goods  that  he  wants  to  buy.  Should  a  young  farmer  go  to  college 
and  study  Greek?  For  what  purpose?  Do  you  see  anybody,  after  he  has  been 
through  a  college  or  a  university,  using  Greek  or  Latin  anywhere? 

Now,  those  classical  lines  of  education  have  my  admiration  as  training  for  the 
men  for  whom  they  are  designed.  I  do  not  stand  here  to  oppose  any  kind  of  edu- 
cation under  the  sun.     But  that  kind  of  education  is  of  little  use  to  the  farmer. 

We  have  a  pernicious  idea  abroad  in  the  land  that  you  must  first  give  a  man  a 
"general  education,"  an  education  which  shall  be  broad,  an  education  which 
shall  include  the  classical  languages  and  mathematics  and  philosophy:  and  after 
you  have  graduated  him  from  a  college  at  which  he  has  studied  all  these  things, 
you  have  then,  as  is  supposed,  a  foundation  upon  which  you  can  establish  a  super- 
structure in  any  direction  you  want. 

The  farmer's  boy  who  intends  to  be  a  farmer,  and  his  father  who  intends  to 

the  soU  succeed  him  on  the  farm,  do  not  care  anything  about  that  kind  of 

education.     My  idea  of  education  is  that  it  should  fit  a  young  man  for  his  future 

life.     If  he  is  to  »>e  a  physician,  let  him  be  fitted  for  that:  if  a  minister  of  the 


49 

gospel,  let  him  be  fitted  for  that,  and  it'  he  ia  fco  be  a  farmer,  Lei  him  be  fitted  for 

that. 

Now.  you  must  begin  to  educate  the  farmer  when  he  is  but  a  child,  and  the 
question  is  how?  I  was  over  to  the  State  of  Miaaouri  the  other  day;  J  attended  a 
commencement  there.  I  fonnd  that  they  have  taken  there  what  I  believe  to  be 
the  right  conrae.  Thej  Bend  for  the  Bchool-teachera  in  the  summer  time  and 
instruct  them  in  the  summer  Bchool  how  to  teach  agricnlture  in  the  primary 
schools.  The  State  of  Alabama  gives  $2,500  a  year  for  an  agricultural  school  in 
each  Congressional  district  in  the  State.  I  tell  you.  gentlemen  from  the  North, 
you  had  better  look  out.  or  our  brethern  from  the  South  will  get  away  with  yon 
along  those  lines. 

And  I  would  not  educate  those  school-teachers  at  their  own  expense;  I  would 
educate  them  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  my  object  being  that,  beginning  with 
the  child,  they  should  instruct  him  in  the  rudiments  of  agriculture,  in  the  ele- 
ments of  the  science  of  agriculture.  The  children  should  be  educated  to  know 
the  difference  between  a  grass  and  a  legume.  You  can  teach  those  young  people 
by  means  of  plants  planted  in  the  school  grounds  if  necessary.  You  can  have 
each  one  bring  you  a  plant,  and  when  it  is  brought  you  can  tell  him  about  it.  If 
a  field  has  been  harrowed,  let  them  run  over  it;  and  the  next  morning  they  will 
see  where  the  moisture  has  collected  in  the  footprints  they  have  made  on  the 
ground.  And  then  you  can  tell  them  why.  You  can  lead  them  step  by  step  from 
such  beginnings  to  the  use  of  the  roller  and  the  harrow. 

I  would  begin  with  those  young  people  along  that  line;  I  would  continue  this 
kind  of  education  through  the  secondary  school;  I  would  prepare  them  for  the 
agricultural  college,  and  they  would  go  there  as  naturally  as  a  boy  goes  to  the 
pantry  to  get  some  bread  and  butter  with  sugar  on  it.  But  just  now  our  system 
of  education  draws  the  young  people  away  from  the  agricultural  college  into 
something  else. 

And  the  mothers,  God  bless  them,  they  probably  have  to  work  pretty  hard  on 
the  farms,  and  they  really  do  not  want  to  see  their  boys  become  farmers.  The 
mother  would  rather  see  her  son  wear  a  black  coat  like  the  lawyer  and  the  teacher 
and  the  dentist.  I  do  not  think  the  mother  encourages  the  boys  very  much  to 
become  farmers,  and  I  do  not  know  that  the  family  preacher  encourages  them 
much,  because  he  was  not  educated  that  way;  and  I  do  not  think  the  family  doctor 
gives  them  much  encouragement  for  the  same  reason. 

Our  common-school  system  is  the  finest  the  world  ever  saw;  but  there  are  mil- 
lions of  dollars  expended  just  now  in  technological  schools.  I  was  reading  yes- 
terday that  Germany  has  145  chambers  of  commerce,  and  112  of  those  are  paying 
money  regularly  to  educate  young  men  in  commerce.  That  is  how  you  make 
great  commercial  men.  The  American  people  are  extending  education  in  similar 
directions. 

One  day  while  away  off  on  the  Pacific  coast  I  was  waiting  for  a  train.  Some- 
body said:  "  Won't  you  step  into  the  car  and  see  how  the  railroad  men  are  edu- 
cated?" There  was  a  man  going  from  place  to  place  with  a  car  instructing  the 
railroad  men  in  everything  pertaining  to  their  business.  So,  too,  are  manufac- 
turers taking  hold  of  the  work  of  technological  training.  Everybody  is  being 
educated  in  his  peculiar  branch  except  the  farmer;  and  why  should  not  he  be? 

What  progress  are  we  making  along  those  lines?  Can  we  take  encouragement 
from  what  is  being  done?  I  think  so.  The  demand  is  very  great.  The  Province 
of  Victoria  in  Australia  sent  a  man  here  last  summer  and  offered  two  chiefs  of 
bureaus  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  $10,000  apiece  to  go  out  there  and 
organize  agriculture  in  that  province,  but  neither  of  them  would  go.  Just  now 
I  have  three  places  in  my  mind   for  which  we  want  men  to  take  charge  of 

9953— No.  120—02 -4 


50 

branches  of  work  in  the  agricultural  colleges,  and  I  do  not  know  where  to  put 
my  finger  on  the  right  men.  It  is  a  big  responsibility  to  send  a  young  man  off  to 
one  of  the  State*  to  organize  this  work,  and  it  is  difficult  to  get  men  for  the  work, 
because  they  are  offered  bigger  pay  from  other  sources. 

Y'.u  can  not  get  a  man  who  is  well  up  in  animal  husbandry  or  agrostology,  or 
any  of  those  sciences  that  a  young  man  must  learn  to  be  an  intelligent  farmer,  for 
the  same  pay  for  which  you  could  get  a  man  to  teach  anything  else.  You  can  tele- 
graph to  a  large  city  and  immediately  get  by  the  carload  young  men  educated  the 
old  way.  but  you  may  send  all  over  the  country  to  get  one  man  to  carry  on  agri- 
cultural instruction  with  regard  to  animal  husbandry  or  with  regard  to  the  differ- 
ent qualities  of  soil  and  you  can  not  find  one.  Education  along  these  lines  has 
begun  lately.     We  have  not  been  at  it  very  long. 

One  thing  that  should  be  encouraged  is  the  work  that  is  being  done  by  the 
American  Congress.  Congress  endowed  the  American  agricultural  colleges.  It 
ha-  gone  further  and  given  -S-5,000  a  year  to  each  of  them.  Then  it  gave  each  of 
them  $15,000  a  year  to  establish  an  experiment  station.  The  Department  of  Agri- 
culture is  getting  over  85.000,000  a  year  now  to  help  the  farmer  all  along  the  line. 

The  question  is  coming  upon  us.  now  that  we  are  opening  the  Orient,  whether 
the  Chinaman  may  not  produce  things  so  much  cheaper  than  we  can  produce 
them  that  we  laid  better  never  have  opened  it  up  at  all;  better  have  kept  away 
from  China. 

One  of  our  American  citizens,  on  coming  back  from  China,  told  us  of  his  visit 
t<>  Canton.  He  told  us  that  he  spoke  there  to  an  intelligent  body  of  Chinamen 
through  an  interpreter.  He  stated  the  amount  of  work  that  a  man  could  do  in  a 
(  iiinese  rice  field  in  a  day.  That  they  understood,  because  they  saw  it  done  every 
day.  Then  he  told  them  of  the  amount  of  work  that  one  man  with  machinery  did 
along  the  Gulf  coast  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  could  not  comprehend.  He 
told  them  that  one  American,  with  the  aid  of  machinery  and  other  modern  appli- 
ances, can  do  as  much  in  the  rice  fields  in  a  day  as  400  Chinamen.  That  they 
could  not  comprehend.  These  are  the  lines  along  which  we  want  to  educate. 
We  want  to  give  more  power  to  the  American  farmer  all  along  the  line. 

You  have  noticed  that  there  has  been  a  long  "  tussle  "  in  Congress  about  beet 
sugar.  I  am  not  going  to  discuss  the  political  aspect  of  that  question,  but  let  me 
tell  you  some  things.  Our  farmers  need  to  be  taught  how  to  cultivate  the  beet; 
they  do  not  yet  know  how.  If  our  sugar-beet  growers  should  grow  only  the  third 
of  a  possible  crop,  it  would  not  make  a  bit  of  difference  to  them  what  Congress 
did:  not  a  particle. 

Have  you  watched  the  proceedings  of  our  American  Congress  in  the  last  week? 
Do  you  notice  two  great  subjects  that  they  are  dealing  with?  One  is  the  irriga- 
tion bill;  another  is  the  Appalachian  forest  reserve  bill.  Both  have  reference  to 
utilizing  the  rainfall:  both  have  reference  to  the  securing  of  moisture  for  the  soil. 
I  believe  firmly  from  all  that  I  can  learn  that  the  atmosphere  takes  up  just  the  same 
amount  of  moisture  from  lakes  and  river  and  ocean  that  it  ever  did.  "  God  hath 
made  man  upright,  but  they  have  sought  out  many  inventions."'  We  have  been 
lure  between  the  rainfall  and  the  river.  We  have  been  changing  the  face  of  the 
Continent.  We  have  been  cutting  down  the  forests,  and  doing  it  as  fast  as  we 
c<  raid .  The  timber  that  we  have  in  the  Northwest  is  being  cut  into  lumber  by  701 » 
sawmills. just  as  fast  as  it  can  be,  some  of  them  at  the.  rate  of  100.000  feet  a  day.  Our 
lie.  >ple  west  <  >f  the  hundredth  meridian  are  complaining  that  they  have  not  enough 
moisture  to  grow  crops.  The  people  in  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Iowa  have 
35  inches  >'f  rainfall,  and  they  are  wonderfully  blessed.  The  people  on  the  Gulf 
coast  have  a  rainfall  running  from  50  to  60  inches,  and  the  people  of  the  North 
think  that  they  are  wonderfully  blessed.  But  you  hear  just  as  much  complaint 
from  the  man  that  grow-  cotton  in  the  South  as  from  the  man  who  grows  wheat 


51 

along  or  near  the  one  hundredth  meridian.  Now,  why  is  all  this-.-  Whal  Lb  the 
matter?  (  targood  friends  in  the  South  have  been  cultivating  and  cultivating  and 
cultivating.  They  have  been  burning  op  the  humus  from  the  Southern  soil;  they 
have  kepi  at  it  for  over  a  hundred  years  until  there  is  aot  much  left  now.  It  will 
not  stand  drought  any  longer  because  there  is  aoi  organic  matter  in  the  soil  to 
retain  the  moisture. 
Now, let  us  leave  the  South  and  go  oul  to  the  hundredth  meridian  again.    They 

have  a  deep,  rich,  brown  soil  which,  with  proper  moisture,  can  grow  anything — 

great  big  crops.    But  whenever  there  comes  a  dry  year  it  means  calamity  for 

them. 

Now.  what  is  the  matter  in  the  South?  Is  it  the  soil  or  the  people?  What  is 
the  matter  at  the  one  hundredth  meridian  ?  Is  it  the  soil  or  the  people?  The  soil 
of  the  South  has  been  washed  into  her  great  rivers.  Half  the  water  in  their  rivers 
is  mud;  thus  they  are  carrying  away  the  soil,  because  the  farmers  are  not  edu- 
cated to  conserve  that  moisture. 

Now,  go  back  to  the  one  hundredth  meridian.  There  are  not  any  rivers  to  carry 
away  anything:  consequently  plant  food  stays  there.  If  you  can  get  the  necessary 
water  upon  the  soil,  you  can  grow  the  most  enormous  crops.  I  have  seen  80 
bushels  of  wheat  to  an  acre;  I  have  seen  a  thousand  bushels  of  potatoes  to  an 
acre,  growing  there.  They  have  never  lost  a  particle  of  their  plant  food  from 
their  soil.     There  is  no  water  to  carry  it  away. 

There  are  two  problems — one  down  on  the  Gulf  coast  among  our  Southern 
brethren:  another  up  at  the  one  hundredth  meridian,  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, with  our  brethren  of  the  plains.  Each  has  a  problem.  The  Department  of 
Agriculture  is  hunting  the  world  over  to  find  plants  to  suit  the  South  and  to  find 
plants  to  suit  the  great  Northwest. 

We  have  been  paying  $8,000,000  a  year  for  macaroni  to  the  Italians, 
and  it  is  not  over  nice  to  look  at  or  think  about.  Macaroni  wTheat  will  not  make 
good  bread,  and  bread  wTheat  will  not  make  macaroni.  We  have  sent  our  explor- 
ers all  over  the  European  and  Asiatic  world,  and  among  other  things  they  have 
brought  us  macaroni  wheat,  and  we  have  it  growing  all  the  way  from  North 
Dakota  to  Texas.  They  grew  some  200,000  bushels  of  it  last  year.  Some  people 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  went  to  work  and  built  a  mill  to  make  macaroni,  and  the 
excellent  macaroni  they  did  make.  But  the  farmers,  who  had  planted  185.000 
bushels  of  the  wheat,  would  not  sell  it  to  the  millers.  And  the  millers  undertook 
to  bring  pressure  upon  me  through  their  Congressmen  to  have  me  get  more 
macaroni  wheat  seed.  I  told  them  if  they  would  only  wait  until  thrashing  time 
they  would  get  all  they  wanted. 

The  result  of  our  raising  our  own  macaroni  wheat  is  that  we  shall  save  $8,000,000 
that  we  have  heretofore  sent  abroad  for  the  purchase  of  macaroni;  and  we  shall 
eat  the  macaroni  with  much  better  relish;  at  least  I  shall. 

These  are  the  lines  along  which  education  is  needed:  and  I  think  that  the  Mis- 
souri brethren  are  on  the  right  track.  Begin  with  the  child:  start  the  child  in 
the  rudiments  that  relate  to  agriculture  and  carry  him  on  up  to  the  agricultural 
college.  Already  in  regard  to  education  our  farmers  are  taking  the  lead  of 
farmers  everywhere  in  the  world,  because  the  average  American,  going  through 
our  average  schools  and  reading  our  American  books  and  newspapers,  is  really  the 
best  informed  average  man  that  the  world  has  to-day.  In  this  matter  we  are 
going  ahead  remarkably  fast.  The  Government  is  helping  the  people  along  these 
lines.  We  have  people  all  over  the  world  finding  out  things  that  we  want  to 
know.  Let  me  illustrate  how  some  of  our  people  are  hunting  for  things.  We 
sent  one  of  our  agricultural  explorers  across  Tripoli  and  across  part  of  the  Sahara 
Desert  some  years  ago,  and  he  got  some  big  date  palms.  We  had  them  trans- 
ported to  Arizona.     Then  we  wanted  an  earlier  variety  of  the  date  palm.     So 


52 

our  explorer  goes  ap  along  the  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf  to  where  there  i>  an 
earlier  variety. 

Four  y.-ar-  ago  we  were  producing  only  25  per  cent  of  the  rice  that  we  con- 
sumed in  the  Onited  States.  The  cry  came  up  from  the  people  along  the  Gulf 
(  Mir  rice  is  a  long,  thin,  carbonaceous  Bort  of  rice  which  does  not  turn  out 
would  like  in  thrashing;  can  yon  rind  us  a  better  species  of  rice  some- 
where?" We  sent  «>nt' of  their  people  off  to  Japan:  and  lie  found  a  flinty  rice, 
shaped  a  good  deal  like  wheat,  and  one  that  doesn't  break  up  in  thrashing.  We 
brought  over  10  tons  and  started  it  all  over  the  Gulf  coast;  and  the  next  year  we 
raised  100  tons  of  it  in  this  country.  The  crop  that  is  now  growing  will  supply 
all  the  home  demand  for  rice:  so  that  we  shall  not  have  to  buy  rice  from  abroad 
any  more:  on  the  contrary,  we  shall  begin  to  export  rice.  The  people  down  in 
Porto  Rico  are  now  buying  our  broken  rice  that  we  used  to  sell  to  the  breweries. 
It  just  exactly  suits  them.  It  is  a  Godsend  to  them.  They  have  not  been  getting 
quite  enough  rice  of  any  kind. 

Let  me  give  still  another  illustration  of  the  work  which  the  scientist  has  to  do 
to-day.  and  how  he  does  it — which  the  world  knows  little  about.  The  people  on 
the  sea  islands  off  Charleston  sent  up  word  to  us  that  the  cotton  was  dying.  They 
grow  a  fine  long  cotton  there.  We  sent  a  pathologist  down  there  and  told  him  to 
find  out  what  was  the  matter.  He  came  back  and  told  us  that  there  was  a  fungus 
that  attacked  the  roots  of  the  cotton  away  down  below  the  surface  cf  the  earth. 
He  did  not  know  what  to  do  about  it.  A  consultation  of  scientists  was  had.  and 
he  was  -t-nt  back  with  these  instructions:  "If  you  find  in  that  field  one  plant  that 
did  not  die.  save  the  seed  of  that.  Then  take  some  of  all  the  varieties  of  cotton 
that  grow  in  the  United  States  and  plant  them  there.  Some  may  be  immune. 
Crossbreed  all  these  varieties.  You  may  get  a  variety  that  may  be  immune. 
Stay  there  quietly  pursuing  your  investigations  for  four  years."' 

While  this  line  of  investigation  was  going  on  we  discovered  that  they  have  in 
Michigan  a  certain  form  of  peach  disease.  The  peach  falls  off  when  it  is  half 
grown.  The  peo])le  did  not  know  what  was  the  matter.  Our  Department  men 
last  fall  got  a  hint  from  the  fungus  which  had  been  found  at  the  root  of  the  cotton 
plant.  They  found  a  similar  fungus  at  the  root  of  the  Michigan  peach.  Xow. 
we  propose  to  import  some  specimens  of  the  peach  from  its  original  home  in  Asia 
The  peach  there  has  stayed  healthy  all  along  the  centuries.  We  are  going  to  try 
if  we  can  meet  the  difficulty  in  Michigan  by  introducing  that  Asiatic  peach. 

(  me  of  our  latest  developments  is  the  raising  of  green  tea  in  South  Carolina. 
It  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  we  shall  be  raising  our  own  tea.  Green  tea  is 
usually  artificially  colored  by  the  use  of  either  prussian  blue  or  copperas.  Our 
people  have  been  studying  how  to  retain  the  greenness  of  the  leaf  without  using 
any  of  these  poisonous  chemicals.  Taking  a  hint  from  our  investigations  in 
regard  to  tobacco,  we  have  found  that  the  tea  leaf  has  a  ferment  within  it.  and 
when  you  pull  the  leaf  it  associates  itself  with  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
there  you  have  green  tea.  Then  they  subject  the  green  leaf  to  heat  up  to  a  high 
temperature  to  kill  that  ferment,  so  that  it  can  not  associate  itself  with  the  oxygen. 
Then  they  did  not  know  how  to  get  that  nice  gray  shade  which  is  on  green  tea. 
They  obtained  the  services  of  a  Chinaman,  to  whom  they  gave  big  pay.  He  did 
the  work  all  right,  but  he  did  not  let  them  see  how  it  was  done,  and  he  would  not 
tell  them.  But  they  discovered  that  the  effect  was  produced  by  abrasion,  and 
now  they  are  making  a  very  pretty  green  tea.  Hence.  I  say.  it  is  only  a  question 
of  time  when  we  shall  grow  in  this  country  our  own  tea.  We  are  now  making  tea 
which  is  finer  than  any  that  can  be  imported.  There  are  imported  teas  that  sell 
for  as  much  as  $1  an  ounce.  I  am  going  to  get  the  society  ladies  here  in  Wash- 
ington to  hold  teas  in  the  afternoon  at  which  this  American  tea  will  be  served. 
I  am   sure  that  they  will  do  it  if  they  have  a  tea  that  costs  more  than  anybody 


53 

rise's  tea!     In  this  way  we  propose  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  services  of  tin 
ladies  of  Washington  to  disseminate  the  fine  tea  raised  in  the  Southern  pari  of 
this  country. 

The  question  naturally  suggests  itself,  are  yon  going  to  succeed  in  raising 
American  tea  without  a  protective  tariff?  I  answer,  yes.  I  donotwanl  to  bother 
Congress  aboul  a  tariff  on  tea.  American  ingenuity  will  find  some  means  «>t 
making  one  man  do  the  work  that  it  requires  two  or  three  hundred  of  those  <  Orien- 
tals todo.  I  do  nol  undertake  to  say  anything  in  regard  to  the  social  problems 
of  the  South:  hut  I  do  know  that  the  little  colored  hoys  an<l  girls  down  there  can 
be  much  better  employed  picking  tea  than  running  idle.  By  American  ingenuity 
we  shall  in  some  way  s  >lve  the  problem  of  competing  with  the  cheap  labor  of  the 
Orient.  The  American  will  improve  anything  he  looks  at:  he  does  not  look  at  a 
thing  twice  without  suggesting  an  improvement. 

Lei  me  add  that  some  day  we  shall  he  growing  our  own  raw  silk.  Congress 
might  well  appropriate  some  money  for  assisting  in  this  work.  Besides  the  manu- 
factured or  finished  silk  that  we  import,  we  are  now  paying  $50,000,000  a  year 
for  the  raw  silk.  I  have  arranged  to  have  millions  of  mulberry  trees  sent  all  over 
the  South.  Tn  a  couple  of  years  those  trees  will  be  ready  to  yield  their  leaves,  and 
then  I  shall  go  to  Booker  Washington  and  have  him  teach  the  colored  women  to 
do  the  rolling.  It  will  he  very  interesting  to  see  them  engaged  at  this  kind  of 
work,  and  as  they  sing  "  the  Suwanee  River."  we  shall  see  their  fingers  flying  so 
fast  that  we  can  not  follow  them.  I  am  interested  in  those  people  and  I  want  to 
help  them  along. 

Papers  on  "  Teaching  domestic  science  in  the  rural  districts  "  were  then  read 
by  Miss  S.  Evelyn  Breed,  of  Norfolk,  Va..  and  Miss  Emma  S.  Jacobs,  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.     (See  pages  91  and  96). 

Appointment  of  Committees. 

On  motion,  duly  seconded,  it  was 

tt<  solved.  That  the  chair  appoint  three  committees — a  committee  on  nomination 
of  officers,  a  committee  on  credentials,  and  a  committee  on  resolutions. 

The  president  announced  the  appointment  of  the  following  committees: 

Committee  on  nominations — George  McKerrow.  Madison.  Wis.;  W.  W.  Miller, 
Columbus.  Ohio:  J.  G.  Lee.  Baton  Rouge.  La. 

Committee  on  constitution — G.  C.  Creelman,  Toronto.  Canada:  John  Hamilton. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.:  'W.  C.  Latta,  Lafayette.  Ind. 

Committee  on  resolutions — S.  L.  Patterson.  Raleigh.  N.  C;  C.  A.  Cary,  Auburn, 
Ala.;  L.  R.  Taft,  Agricultural  College.  Michigan. 

Morning  Session,  Thursday.  June  26,  1902. 

The  convention  met  pursuant  to  order. 

Mr.  McKerrow  presented  the  report  of  the  committee  on  credentials,  which  was 
read  by  the  secretary. 

Election  of  Officers. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  from  the  committee  on  nominations,  submitted  the  following 
report: 

For  president.  W.  C.  Latta.  of  Lafayette.  Indiana. 

For  vice-president.  J.  G.  Lee.  of  Baton  Rouge.  La. 

For  secretary-treasurer.  G.  C.  Creelman,  of  Toronto.  Ontario. 

For  members  of  the  executive  committee:  S.  L.  Patterson,  of  North  Carolina: 
A.  B.  Hostetter.  of  Illinois,  and  A.  L.  Martin,  of  Pennsylvania. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Hostetter.  the  secretary  was  instructed  to  cast  the  ballot  of 
the  convention  for  the  officers  nominated. 


54 

Place  op  Next  Meeting. 

The  President.  We  will  now  take  up  the  question  of  the  place  of  the  next 
meeting  of  the  convention. 

A  telegraphic  dispatch  was  read  from  N.  J.  Sanders,  president  of  the  New 
Orleans  Progressive  Union,  composed  of  1,500  representative  business  men  of 
New  ( Orleans,  asking  that  that  city  he  selected  as  the  place  of  the  next  meeting 
of  the  convention. 

Mr.  Lee  nominated  New  Orleans  as  the  place  of  meeting  and  made  remarks  in 
favor  of  the  nomination. 

Mr.  (  lvclman  nominated  Toronto  and  spoke  in  favor  of  the  nomination. 

After  considerable  discussion  Mr.  Lee  withdrew  the  nomination  of  New  Orleans 
and  moved  that  Toronto  be  selected  by  acclamation. 

The  motion,  having  been  seconded,  was  agreed  to. 

The  convention  then  discussed  the  subject  of  •"The  farmers'  institute  as  a 
medium  for  developing  the  mutual  interest  and  relations  of  farmers  and  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture  "  (see  p. ). 

After  this  discussion  the  following  resolutions  wTere  offered  and  adopted: 

By  Mr.  Thompson,  of  West  Virginia: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  association  request  that  the  Department  will  kindly  con- 
tinue to  publish  the  report  of  our  proceedings,  as  it  has  done  heretofore." 

By  Mr.  Miller,  of  Ohio: 

"Resolved,  That  the  American  Association  of  Farmers'  Institute  Workers  cor- 
dially and  most  heartily  approves  the  action  that  has  been  initiated  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  Agriculture  in  the  matter  of  closer  communication  between  the  Depart- 
ment and  the  farmers'  institutes,  with  the  hope  that  an  agent  will  be  appointed, 
as  suggested  in  Dr.  True's  paper." 

Revision  of  the  Constitution. 

The  President.  It  is  now  in  order  to  receive  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the 
revision  of  the  constitution. 

Mr.  Creelman.  The  committee  on  the  revision  of  the  constitution  beg  leave  to 
recommend  in  the  first  place  an  amendment  to  Article  III.     That  article  now  reads: 

' "  MEMBERSHIP. 

"Any  active  worker  in  the  farmers'  institutes  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
may  become  a  regular  member  of  this  association  on  payment  of  the  annual  dues, 
and  is  entitled  to  one  vote.  A  delegate  member  representing  the  State  Farmers' 
Institute  organization  shall  be  admitted  from  each  State  and  Province  on  com- 
pliance with  the  by-laws,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  cast  five  votes  on  any  question: 
Provided,  That  the  annual  membership  dues  of  the  person  shall  be  $1  and  that 
of  the  State  $5." 

To  this  article  we  beg  leave  to  recommend  an  addition  to  this  effect: 

''Also,  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  Office  of  Experi- 
ment Stations  of  that  Department  shall  each  be  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
association,  with  the  full  privileges  of  delegate  membership.'' 

We  propose  also  an  amendment  to  Article  VII,  which  reads  now  as  follows: 

"Article  VII.  Associate  members  of  this  organization  may  be  elected  from  time 
to  time  upon  the  presentation  of  their  names  by  some  member  of  the  associa- 
tion, and  upon  their  receiving  the  votes  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members 
present. " 

We  have  never  taken  advantage  of  this  article  of  the  constitution  to  elect  any 
member,  from  the  fact  that  immediately  following  it.  in  article  8,  we  read: 

••  The  annual  dues  of  an  associate  member  shall  be  si.'" 


55 

As  far  as  T  (-in  find  <>m  From  members  of  the  original  committee  who  drafted 
the  constitution  of  this  association,  it  w;i>  intended  thai  in  a  sense  this  article 
should  be  made  to  include  prominent  men  interested  in  agriculture,  but  who  were 
not  necessarily  active  farmers'  institute  workers,  and  thai  when  specialists  in 
agriculture  came  to  our  meetings  with  scientific  or  other  well-prepared  papers  of 
an  original  character,  they  should  be  given  a  recognized  standing  in  the  associa- 
tion for  the  services  thus  rendered  and  in  recognition  of  those  services.  The 
committee  therefore  recommends  that  there  be  Bubstil  nted  tor  t  he  word-  "  asso- 
ciate members  ■"  the  words  "honorary  members,"  so  that  Article  Vil  will  then 
read: 

"HONORARY  members. 

"VII.  Honorary  members  of  this  organization  may  be  elected  from  time  to  time 
upon  the  presentation  of  their  names  by  some  member  of  the  association,  and 
upon  their  receiving  the  votes  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members  present.'' 

Then  we  propose  to  strike  out  entirely  in  Article  VIII  these  words: 

"dues  of  ±sso<  i  ate  members. 

• "  The  annual  dues  of  an  associate  member  shall  be  $  1 . " 

Article  IX  we  ask  you  to  amend  by  changing  the  word  ' '  associate  * '  to  "  hon- 
orary."'    The  article  as  amended  will  read: 

"power  of  honorary  members. 

" '  Honorary  members  shall  be  entitled  to  sit  in  all  the  sessions  of  the  association 
and  to  take  part  in  all  discussions,  but  shall  have  no  vote." 

It  will  be  understood  that  we  are  simply  proposing  an  arrangement  for  the 
election  of  honorary  members  who  render  certain  services  to  the  association,  but 
who  are  not  necessarily  actively  engaged  in  institute  work. 

According  to  the  last  clause  in  the  constitution,  it  is  necessary  that  we  give  one 
year's  notice  before  a  change  shall  be  made  in  the  constitution.  As  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  the  constitution.  I  beg  leave  to  submit  this  report,  and  ask 
that  these  changes  be  accepted  by  the  association  with  a  view  to  their  adoption 
one  year  from  this  date. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  move  that  the  recommendations  of  this  committee  be 
accepted. 

The  motion,  having  been  seconded,  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  suggest,  if  there  are  plenty  of  funds  in  the  treasury,  that 
the  secretary  have  the  proposed  changes,  with  the  original,  printed  and  distributed 
to  the  different  managers  of  institutes  in  the  different  States,  so  that  they  may  be 
informed  in  regard  to  these  proposed  changes  before  they  come  up  for  action  in 
the  next  convention. 

Mr.  Thompson.  I  suggest  that  the  gentleman  from  Wisconsin  (Mr.  McKerrow) 
modify  his  proposition  so  as  to  ask  that  the  proposed  changes  be  jn'inted  in  the 
proceedings  of  this  convention.     Then  they  will  be  distributed  to  all  the  members. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  modify  my  motion  in  that  way. 

Mr.  True.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  doing  both  things.  The  proposed,  amend- 
ments can  be  published  in  the  proceedings,  and  can  also  be  sent  out  on  separate 
slips. 

The  President.  The  chair  understands  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  take  a 
vote  on  this  proposition;  that  the  course  suggested  will  be  taken  in  connection 
with  the  publication  of  the  proceedings. 

A  paper  on  "The  relation  of  railroads  to  agriculture."  by  M.  V.  Richards, 
industrial  agent  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company,  Washington,  D.  C,  was 
presented.     (See  page  107.) 


56 

Report  of  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

The  president  called  on  8.  L.  Patterson,  chairman,  for  fche  report  <»f  the  com- 
mittee on  resolutions. 

Mi.  Patterson,  a  resolution  has  been  handed  in  to  the  committee,  which  I 
wish  I"  read: 

•  Whereas  this  association  lias  been  informed  that  the  authorities  in  charge  of 
the  exposition  to  be  held  in  St.  Louis  in  L904  have  been  requested  to  make  an  effort 
to  secure  demonstration  fields  where  all  kinds  of  agricultural  implements  on 
exhibition  at  the  exposition  may  be  shown  in  operation:  Therefore  be  it 

••  Resolved,  That  the  American  Association  of  Farmers"  Institute  Workers  con- 
siders this  a  matter  of  great  interest  and  importance  to  all  persons  interested  in 
agriculture,  and  that  they  heartily  commend  this  movement,  with  the  hope 
that  the  exposition  authorities  maybe  able  to  arrange  for  such  demonstration 
exhibits." 

This  is  a  resolution  that  comes  from  Major  Lee  and  Professor  Dodson,  of  Lou- 
isiana. I  think  they  originated  the  idea,  and  it  is  one  in  regard  to  which  Major 
Lee  has  had  some  correspondence  with  other  parties.  At  his  suggestion  I  wrote 
to  President  Francis  approving  the  proposition.  The  letter  was  referred  to  the 
appropriate  officer  in  charge — I  do  not  remember  now  his  name,  but  I  believe  it  was 
Mr.  Skiff — and  he  seemed  to  be  impressed  with  the  idea,  and  said  that  he  would 
be  very  glad  to  arrange  for  such  an  exhibition  of  machinery  actually  in  operation 
if  it  should  be  found  feasible  to  do  so.  We  think  it  would  be  well  for  this  con- 
vention to  take  notice  of  the  idea  and  present  this  resolution  to  Mr.  Skiff. 

Continuing,  Mr.  Patterson  read  the  following  resolution: 

"I?e  it  resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  American  Association  of  Farmers' 
Institute  Workers  be  extended — 

"I.  To  President  Roosevelt  for  his  cordial  reception  of  its  members. 

"II.  To  Secretary  Wilson  for  his  support  and  his  instructive  and  interesting 
speech. 

"III.  To  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  furnishing  a  stenographer  and 
printing  our  official  report. 

"IV.  To  Assistant  Secretary  Brigham  and  Director  True  for  their  active  and 
personal  wTork  in  our  meeting. 

"V.  To  Prof.  C.  C.  James,  of  Toronto,  for  his  most  interesting  and  instructive 
paper  on  '  Teaching  agriculture  -in  public  schools. ' 

"  VI.  To  Miss  S.  Evelyn  Breed,  of  Norfolk,  Va.,  and  Miss  Emma  S.  Jacobs,  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  for  their  valuable  papers  on  "Teaching  domestic  science  in 
rural  districts. ' 

'•  VII.  To  the  proprietors  of  the  National  Hotel  for  the  use  of  the  room  in  which 
the  meetings  have  been  held  and  for  other  courtesies. 

"VIII.  To  the  newspapers  of  Washington  for  the  interest  manifested  in  our 
proceedings  and  for  the  reports  published. 

"  S.  L.  Patterson.  Chairman. 
"C.  A.  Cary. 
"L.  R.  Taft." 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  report  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  want  to  say  only  one  word  in  regard  to  the  resolutions  sub- 
mitted. While  it  is  generally  the  case  that  some  formal  resolutions  of  this  kind 
are  submitted  on  occasions  of  this  sort,  I  wish  to  say  that  we  have  never  had 
occasion  to  submit  resolutions  that  have  been  offered  with  more  earnestness  and 
Bincerity  than  these.  They  are  not  a  mere  matter  of  form.  I  am  sure  that  I 
spesfe  tor  this  whole  convention  when  I  say  that  our  meeting  here  has  been  one 
not  only  exceedingly  agreeable  to  the  members,  but  I  believe  of  importance  and 


L 


great  helpfulness  tons  all.  We  especially  appreciate  the  conrtesies  which  have 
bees  extended  to  us  by  the  Departmenl  of  Agricnltnre  and  by  all  the  officers  con- 
nected therewith  and  by  the  other  parties  named  in  the  resolution  in  fact,  by 
everybody  here  in  the  city  of  Washington.  I  am  sure  thai  this  meeting  will  be 
t<>  us  all  a  pleasant  memory  in  the  future. 

The  resolutions  submitted  by  the  committee  were  adopted. 

The  following  resolution  was  also  submitted  and  adopted  on  a  rising  vote,  the 
question  being  put  by  th*'  secretary: 

"IX.  T«»  our  president,  Mr.  Amoss,  for  his  efficient  work  as  our  chief  officer  and 
for  arranging  and  conducting  very  pleasant  excursions  to  interesting  historica] 
points  in  and  around  Washington." 

The  following  resolution  was  also  submitted  and  adopted: 

••X.  To  our  secretary-treasurer.  Mr.  Creelman.  for  his  most  efficient  work  in 
performing  his  special  duties." 

Government  Distribution  of  Seeds. 

A  resolution  condemning  the  present  plan  of  Congressional  seed  distribution 
and  asking  that  it  be  abolished  was  introduced  by  J.  O.  Thompson,  of  West 
Virginia,  hut  after  some  discussion  it  was  withdrawn. 

A  paper  on  "'Agriculture  in  rural  schools."*  by  E.  P.  Powell,  of  New  York,  was 
presented  and  accepted  for  publication  in  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  (see 
page  109). 

The  judging  of  live  stock  as  farmers"  institute  work  was  then  discussed  (see 
page  113). 

Time  of  Next  Meeting  of  the  Association. 

After  some  informal  discussion  as  to  the  preparation  of  a  programme  and  also 
as  to  a  suitable  time  for  the  next  meeting  of  the  association.  Mr.  Miller  submitted 
a  motion,  which,  being  duly  seconded  was  agreed  to.  that  the  next  meeting  of  the 
association  (at  Toronto)  be  held  the  last  week  in  June.  1903. 

Cooperation  Between  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  and  Institute 

Workers. 

Mr.  True.  Before  this  convention  finally  adjourns.  I  wish  to  express  the  hope 
that  members  will  bear  in  mind  that  in  accordance  with  instructions  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  Agriculture  a  regular  part  of  the  business  of  the  Office  of  Experiment 
Stations  is  now  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  farmers*  institutes.  For  that 
reason  we  shall  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  any  of  you  who  are  interested  in  this 
work  and  to  give  you  any  information  that  we  may  have  or  can  obtain  for  you. 
If  yon  do  not  get  satisfaction  when  you  write  the  first  time.  I  hope  you  will  not 
be  discouraged. 

The  President.  Before  this  convention  finally  adjourns.  I  wish  to  say  that  it 
has  been  a  pleasure  to  me  to  act  as  your  presiding  officer,  and  I  wish  to  thank  you 
for  your  kind  cooperation  with  me  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties.  I  heartily  con- 
gratulate my  successor  as  well  as  the  convention  on  his  appointment.  This  has 
been  to  me  one  of  the  most  interesting  meetings  that  I  have  ever  attended,  and  I 
have  attended  many.  I  feel  that  our  work  is  now  in  good  shape  to  bring  about 
most  useful  results.  Wishing  individual  workers,  as  well  as  the  organization 
itself,  the  fullest  possible  success.  I  wish  to  say  to  one  and  all.  a  cordial  goodbye. 

The  convention  then  adjourned  sine  die. 


PAPERS,  ADDRESSES,  AND  DISCUSSIONS. 


THE  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  WORKER. 

The  discussion  of  the  subject  of  "  The  farmers'  institute  worker"  was  opened 
by  W.  J.  Spillman,  agrostologist  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Mr.  Spillman.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  I  shall  not  detain  you  very 
long  on  this  subject,  because,  as  I  have  already  seen,  you  are  all  much  more 
familiar  with  the  farmers'  institute  worker  and  what  he  ought  to  be  than  I  am. 
I  have  never  seen  a  farmers'  institute  in  any  other  State  than  Washington  and 
Oregon.  I  will  endeavor  to  state  in  a  condensed  form  what  I  know  of  the  farm- 
ers' institute  worker  in  that  part  of  the  country. 

There  is  one  thing  absolutely  essential  to  a  farmers'  institute  man;  he  must  be 
a  practical  man;  and  that  is  pretty  nearly  the  only  requirement.  That  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  he  must  necessarily  be  a  farmer  at  all.  Some  of  the  best 
work  I  have  seen  in  the  farmers'  institute  has  been  by  men  who  never  worked  on 
a  farm  one  minute  of  their  lives.  On  one  occasion  we  got  a  railroad  president  to 
lecture  at  our  farmers*  institute.  He  made  a  splendid,  sensible  talk  to  the  farmers; 
and  they  came  out  in  great  crowds  to  hear  him. 

People  generally  have  come  to  apply  the  term  ' '  practical  farmer  "to  a  man 
who  actually  holds  the  plow  and  works  the  hoe  handle.  Such  a  man  may  be 
''practical;*'  but  on  the  other  hand  a  large  number  of  the  men  of  that  kind  have 
been  immensely  impractical. 

On  one  occasion  we  had  an  audience  of  farmers — about  twice  as  many  as  there 
are  persons  in  this  room  this  evening.  We  had  a  splendid  two-day  institute.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  second  day,  when  we  had  got  pretty  well  acquainted  with 
each  other,  one  of  the  professors  of  the  college  was  giving  a  very  good,  sensible 
talk  on  diseases  of  cattle.  There  were  three  farmers  who,  in  response  to  what 
the  professor  said,  propounded  theories  and  undertook  to  explain  certain  phe- 
nomena. When  these  gentlemen  had  concluded  their  remarks,  I  took  the  liberty 
of  saying,  jokingly,  "Now,  we  have  had  three  farmers  here  proposing  theo- 
ries. We  have  always  heard  that  it  was  the  college  men  who  were  the  theorists, 
and  that  the  farmer  was  no  theorist,  but  a  practical  man.  Now.  it  strangely  hap- 
pens that  the  only  theories  we  have  had  propounded  here  have  come  from  the 
farmers.*'  I  venture  to  suggest  that,  as  a  rule,  the  less  practical  a  man  is,  no 
matter  what  his  calling,  the  more  theories  he  has  to  expound. 

Now,  in  the  farmers'  institute  work  we  want  a  man  who  has  no  theories,  who 
does  not  work  on  theories  at  all.  We  want  a  man  who  is  practical,  and  by  a 
'"practical  man '*  I  mean  one  who  can  see  a  point. 

I  believe  that  the  character  of  the  institute  work  must  depend  on  the  stage  of 
evolution  of  that  work,  and  I  believe  that  in  the  beginning  of  this  work  in  any 
section  the  best  man  to  send  out  is  the  scientist — a  practical  man  who  is  at  the 
same  time  a  good  speaker.  After  a  while,  as  the  farmers  become  imbued  with 
his  spirit,  they  will  be  worked  up  to  a  proper  point  of  enthusiasm  in  the  work  and 

59 


60 

will  come  to  appreciate  the  meaning  of  the  farmers' institute,  [n  this  way,  as 
the  work  goes  on,  yon  will,  after  a  few  years,  begin  to  disco ver  here  and  there 
over  the  State  men  who  are  capable  speakers  and  who  are  practical  men,  and 
then  yon  can  gradually  introdnce  them  into  the  farmers' institute  work.  This 
has  been  practically  the  history  that  most  of  you  have  given  la-re  to-night  of  the 
development  of  this  work  in  your  respective  localiti 

Several  gentleman  have  stated  here  that  in  their  localities  the  demand  has  been 
t»>  have  as  a  lecturer  a  man  who  has  had  the  experience  of  a  farmer.  I  have  found 
that  to  be  the  case  here  in  the  East.  I  have  attended  a  few  farmers'  meetings 
near  this  city,  and  I  rind  that  the  people  in  attendance  do  not  care  very  much  for 
Scientists;  they  want,  or  think  they  want,  the  man  who  has  had  "  experience  on 
the  farm."  But  that  thing  can  be  carried  very  much  too  far.  Experience  may 
be  a  very  good  thing  or  a  very  had  thing,  and  five  years"  experience  with  one  man 
may  be  worth  more  than  fifty  year-"  experience  with  another.  There  are  things 
that  are  very  much  more  important  than  experience.  Ability  is  worth  more  than 
experience,  because  a  man  with  ability  can  get  experience,  but  the  man  with 
experience  may  not  be  able  to  get  ability. 

In  reading  the  report  of  the  last  year's  meeting  I  noticed  that  Professor  Smith, 
of  Michigan,  remarked  that  an  institute  is  very  much  improved  by  having  at  least 
one  good  scientist  present.  I  think  our  experience  in  the  State  of  Washington 
indicates  that  Mich  is  the  case,  and  along  with  such  a  man  we  want  also  the 
man  who  has  had  the  practical  experience  of  the  farm.  Much  depends  on  his 
personality,  his  integrity,  and  intelligence,  and.  I  will  add.  upon  his  experience, 
if  it  is  experience  that  is  needed.  But  it  is  not  always  experience  that  we  want 
in  the  farmers'  institute.  Sometimes  we  want  a  man  to  deal  with  principles,  say- 
ing nothing  about  experience  at  all.  Take,  for  instance,  the  principles  of  feeding. 
I  believe  it  is  a  good  thing  once  in  a  while  to  go  into  a  community  of  intelligent 
farmers  and  talk  about  the  principles  of  feeding,  even  if  the  man  who  speaks  is 
not  a  practical  farmer.  And  then.  too.  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  another  speaker 
who  will  get  up  and  tell  about  his  practical  experience  in  connection  with  feed- 
ing. We  have  found  this  method  of  proceeding  to  be  distinctly  valuable  in  our 
work. 

We  discover  our  institute  workers  by  simply  observing.  For  instance,  when  we 
have  a  meeting  of  the  State  Dairy  Association  we  give  a  number  of  men  an  oppor- 
tunity to  try  themselves  by  giving  their  experience.  In  this  way  we  frequently 
discover  a  valuable  man  and  then  we  eiilist  him  in  our  institute  work.  So.  too. 
the  same  thing  happens  in  connection  with  the  meetings  of  the  State  Horticul- 
tural Society:  their  meetings  may  develop  a  number  of  valuable  men.  So  that  we 
are  almost  never  called  upon  to  take  an  untried  man  and  put  him  into  institute 
work. 

As  ours  is  a  new  State,  and  as  we  have  not  yet  discovered  a  great  many  good 
institute  workers,  though  we  have  found  some  that  I  think  very  excellent,  we  have 
occasionally  used  in  this  work  the  students  of  our  agricultural  college.  This  may 
seem  somewhat  hard  on  the  farmers — they  are  very  often  afraid  to  trust  these 
students — but  really  in  this  way  we  have  often  gotten  very  good  results.  When 
we  take  those  students  out  we  introduce  them  to  the  farmers  as  young  men  who 
are  studying  at  the  agricultural  college,  and  in  general  the  farmers  like  them.  At 
every  institute  meeting  near  the  college  we  "  run  in  "  some  of  our  students,  and 
they  nearly  always  add  interest  to  the  programme.  In  this  way  we  develop  at 
every  meeting  one  or  two  very  good  institute  workers. 

<  toe  thing  essential  in  the  institute  worker  is  that  he  shall  command  the  respect 
of  the  farmers,  either  by  his  superior  knowledge  or  his  superior  experience.  He 
must  command  their  respect;  otherwise  his  work  will  be  thrown  away. 

Ther.-  is  one  thing  I  will  venture  to  say  here  this  evening  just  to  see  how  far 


61 

you  may  disagree  with  me.  I  believe  that  the  farmers'  institute  work  is  themosl 
Important  work  thai  is  being  done  by  the  coll<  gesand  experiment  stations  to-day. 
I  know  thai  a  good  many  of  you  will  differ  with  me  on  this  point,  bnl  Lei  me  tell 
y«»u  there  are  all  over  the  connl  ry  institutions  thai  can  educate  young  men,  there 
are  people  all  overthe  country  who  can  experiment,  but  there  is  absolutely  no 
means  of  bringing  science  to  the  man  who  will  nol  read,  excepl  by  means  of  the 
farmers' institute  work.  A.s  Governor  Hoard  Baid  last  year,  there  are  a  large 
number  of  men  who  can  not  get  anything  by  reading  -they  have  not  been  trained 
to  do  it.  You  may  take,  he  said,  the  model  of  a  row  stall  to  a  farmers1  institute 
and  let  a  hundred  farmers  sec  it.  and  fifty  of  them  can  go  horn*-  and  make  one  like 
it:  but  let  them  merely  read  a  description  of  it  in  print .  even  with  an  illustrative 
pngraving,  and  not  ten  in  a  hundred  can  possibly  make  one  like  it. 

I  think  the  farmers'  institute  is  doing  some  of  the  most  important  work  for  the 
Improvement  of  agriculture  that  is  being. done  to-day.  Agriculture  is  the  one 
great  industry  of  this  country,  and  without  question  agriculture  has  been  thus  far 
perfected  less  by  scientific  investigation  than  has  any  other  industry.  T  know  no 
way  by  which  the  farmers  can  profit  by  the  scientific  investigation  which  is  being 
pursued  in  connection  with  agriculture  unless  the  results  are  brought  to  the 
farmer  by  some  means,  and  the  farmers'  institute  is  about  the  best  agency.  The 
large  mass  of  our  farmers  do  not  read.  How  many  farmers  read  the  literature 
published  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture?  On  the  mailing  lists  of  the  office  of 
Grass  and  Forage  Plant  Investigations  are  the  names  of  about  3,500  fanners. 
Every  farmer  in  the  United  States  should  receive  the  bulletins  of  this  office,  but 
of  those  who  do  receive  them  I  venture  to  believe  that  not  half  read  them. 

The  farmers'  institutes  are  doing  a  work  that  can  not  be  done  in  any  other  way. 
I  feel  that  it  is  a  work  worthy  of  our  best  men.  It  is  somewhat  of  a  sacrifice  for  a 
man  who  has  an  opportunity  to  be  an  investigator  to  devote  himself  to  the  life  of 
I  teacher.  But  that  is  what  many  a  farmers'  institute  worker  self-sacrificingly 
docs. 

I  can  not  leave  this  subject  without  saying  that  in  my  opinion  the  most  impor- 
tant man  in  the  farmers'  institute  work  is  the  State  superintendent  of  institutes. 
In  the  State  of  Washington  we  have  not  yet  had  any  such  superintendent:  yet  we 
have  some  good  farmers'  institutes  there.  A  good  superintendent  can  make  the 
institute  successful  where  the  lack  of  a  good  superintendent  may  make  the  insti- 
tute work  a  failure. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  Professor  Spillman 
has  remarked  in  regard  to  the  State  of  Washington.  I  may  say  that  Wisconsin 
has  gone  through  an  evolution  in  regard  to  institute  workers.  Superintendent 
Morrison,  the  first  superintendent  of  our  work  in  Wisconsin,  found  when  he 
began  the  organization  of  our  State  system  some  seventeen  years  ago  that  one  of 
the  hardest  things  he  had  to  contend  with  was  to  produce  institute  workers  in 
whom  the  farmers  of  the  State  would  have  confidence,  workers  who  would  draw 
the  farmers  to  the  meetings  and  hold  them,  workers  who  were  free  from  the 
stigma  of  politics  which  naturally  attached  to  the  first  institute.  He  found  it  a 
very  hard  matter  at  first  to  overcome  the  suspicion  of  the  farmers.  We  had 
some  excellent  helpers  in  our  agricultural  professors  at  the  college.  Such  men 
as  Henry.  King,  and  others  whom  I  might  name  were  there  ready  to  take  a  hand, 
land  then  Superintendent  Morrison  supplemented  their  work  with  agricultural 
editors.  We  have  one  very  strong  man  in  that  line — ex-Governor  Hoard.  Mr. 
Morrison  picked  up  other  workers  as  he  could  find  them.  Some  of  them  were 
lawyers  who  from  lack  of  practice  or  on  account  of  ill-health  had  gone  into  farm- 
ing and  were  raising  a  few  chickens  or  keeping  two  or  three  Jersey  cows  on  land 
which  they  rented  or  owned  near  the  village  or  city  in  which  they  resided.  Then 
there  were  ministers  of  the  Gospel  whose  health  had  failed,  and  who  had  gone  to 


62 

raising  chickens  or  something  of  that  kind  in  order  to  make  a  living — men  who 
were  very  enthusiastic  about  the  chicken-raising  business  because  they  had  not 
been  in  it  long.  Thus  we  had  ontside  helpers  who  could  talk  very  well  and  talk 
by  tin-  honr  if  necessary.  As  Superintendent  Morrison  has  said  to  me,  some  of 
these  men  were  bo  enthusiastic  and  so  wrapped  up  in  their  subjects  that  they 
actually  talked  the  farmers  out  of  the  meetings,  BO  that  the  second-day  meetings 
were  much  smaller  in  attendance  than  the  first-day  meetings. 

Then,  casting  about  the  State,  lie  finally  found  here  and  there  a  farmer  wno 
was  a  stock  breeder,  belonging  mostly  to  a  class  of  men  who  had  made  something 
of  a  reputation  at  the  fairs  in  our  State  by  winning  prizes  on  their  stock  and  on 
their  butter,  and  on  their  grains,  and  on  the  other  products  of  their  farms.  He  tried 
these  men.  but  most  of  them  were  not  talkers,  and  failed  him  in  that  respect. 
Then  lie  took  up  a  new  plan — that  of  nsing  these  practical  men  as  question-posts, 
letting  them  talk  from  one  to  five  minutes,  and  then  having  the  farmers  quiz 
them  for  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes.  Some  of  those  men  were  thus  devel- 
oped into  very  good  institute  workers. 

After  Mr.  Morrison's  death,  in  1884,  I  found  the  Bame  trouble  confronting  me. 
The  worst  trouble  I  have  had  to  solve  has  been  the  problem  of  getting  institute 
workers — men  who  could  not  only  draw  and  hold  the  people,  but  give  them 
valuable  information  in  the  brief  space  of  time  allowed. 

I  was  probably  more  fortunate  than  most  superintendents  are  in  this  respect. 
"While  a  boy  I  had  begun  to  exhibit  stock  at  the  fairs  in  Wisconsin,  and  I  followed 
up  that  business,  so  that  I  had  an  acquaintance  with  the  stock  breeders  and  the 
exhibitors  of  farm  products  at  the  leading  fairs.  I  knew  how  well  some  of  these 
men  could  talk — at  least  in  a  conversational  way.  I  applied  to  the  best  of  them 
to  act  as  institute  workers.  Most  of  them  said.  "You  can  not  get  me  to  leave 
home  in  midwinter  and  travel  all  over  the  State  in  this  business:  I  won't  do  it, 
because  I  don't  have  to  do  it."  Here  let  me  say  that  the  men  we  want  to  do  insti- 
tute work  in  Wisconsin  are  those  very  men:  the  men  who  "don't  have  to  do  it." 
We  can  get  lots  of  institute  workers,  such  as  they  are:  we  have  applications  from 
them  every  day  in  the  year,  with  the  backing  of  the  best  politicians  of  the  State. 
But  we  want  as  institute  workers  the  men  who  have  business  of  their  own  to 
attend  to:  men  who  stand  high  morally  in  their  respective  communities;  men 
who  pay  promptly  all  their  honest  debts,  or  better  still,  never  contract  any  debts; 
men  who  stand  out  prominently  as  the  best  stock  breeders  along  certain  lines,  or 
the  best  dairymen,  or  the  best  clover  growers,  or  the  best  horticulturists:  men  who 
stand  out  prominently  along  some  one  line  of  work:  or  men  who  are  known  in 
their  communities  as  the  best  all-round  farmers.  They  should  be,  too.  men  who 
are  striving  for  the  highest  and  best  object  of  an  American  farmer — to  build  a 
comfortable,  pleasant,  farm  home,  in  which  to  rear  their  families;  men  who  look 
after  the  education  of  their  children.  When  we  find  such  a  man.  even  if  he  can 
not  "'talk."  if  he  can  only  answer  questions,  we  find  him  a  most  useful  institute 
worker.  If  we  get  a  man  who  can  stand  before  an  audience  and  have  his  neigh- 
bors quiz  him  as  to  how  he  has  succeeded  in  raising  such  fine  animals  or  in  pro- 
ducing butter  that  took  the  prize  at  the  fair,  or  in  making  his  farm  produce  the 
best  crops — if  we  find  such  material  in  a  man.  then  we  use  him  and  try  to  develop 
him:  and  we  sometimes  spend  a  little  money  along  this  line  of  development. 

As  to  the  methods  of  our  workers,  we  have  in  the  first  place  a  roll  of  25  or  30 
charts  for  each  corps  of  institute  workers,  illustrating  the  best  types  of  draft 
horses,  road  horses,  beef  cattle,  dairy  cattle,  swine,  and  sheep;  or  illustrating  the 
laying  out  of  a  garden,  the  outlines  of  cheap  pig  pens,  feeding  racks  for  sheep  and 
cattle,  and  things  of  that  kind.  Then  we  have  other  charts  in  regard  to  fertiliz- 
ing, showing  the  amount  of  fertility  in  each  class  of  farm  product,  etc.  From 
these  charts  our  speakers  are  expected  to  talk.     Besides,  they  carry  with  them 


63 

fcodels  of  cow  stalls,  pig  pens,  and  feeding  racks.  About  ex-governor  remarked 
to  meat  last  year's  meeting,  "  Yon  can  teach  a  mail  more  From  an  objeoi  lesson 
in  five  minutes  than  you  can  teach  him  by  a  long-drawn-out  talk  in  thirty  or  Forty 
pinntes." 

Another  feature  of  our  method  is  to  have  the  talks  shorl  and  to  the  point.  ( ha 
rule  in  genera]  is  twenty  minutes'  talk  and  twenty  minutes1  discussion,  including 
he  asking  and  the  answering  of  questions,  bul  sometimes  this  rule  is  broken. 
Sometimes  the  new  workers  do  not  talk  more  than  five  minutes,  and  then  we  get 
them  into  a  running  discussion. 

A  Delegate.  Do  you  have  difficulty  sometimes  in  getting  the  Farmers  to  ask 

questions? 

Mr.  McKerrOW.  There  is  not  much  difficulty  of  that  kind  in  our  State.  In  the 
early  days  some  of  our  farmers  found  fault  with  some  of  the  speakers  because 
key  could  not  answer  the  questions  intelligently,  as  they  thought,  or  from  the 
proper  standpoint.     But  now  we  have  very  little  trouble  of  that  kind. 

In  the  first  place,  when  we  get  to  a  place  to  hold  a  meeting  every  institute  con- 
ductor is  expected  to  make  it  his  special  business  to  make  every  farmer  feel  that 
it  is  his  meeting,  not  ours,  and  to  urge  the  farmers  to  be  ready  with  their  ques- 
tions so  as  to  draw  the  discussion  down  to  their  standpoint  as  quickly  as  possible. 
As  a  rule  we  find  it  harder  to  cut  off  the  discussion  than  to  keep  it  going. 

Our  farmers'  institutes  are  so  rapidly  devek>f>ing  the  desire  for  more  education 
among  our  farmers,  and  so  many  of  the  boys  are  sent  to  the  agricultural  college 
to  take  short  courses,  that  we  cannot  get  the  agricultural  professors  to  attend  the 
institutes.  They  are  able  to  do  but  very  little  work  for  us.  The  most  of  their 
work  is  at  our  round-up  institutes,  which  form  the  basis  of  our  farmers'  institutes. 
A  practical  professor— and  there  are  lots  of  that  kind — is  an  excellent  helper  in  our 
farmers'  institute  work.  The  impractical  man,  one  who  talks  over  the  heads  of 
the  farmers,  is  simply  a  consumer  of  time;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  there  are  a  few 
professors  of  that  kind.     I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  have  them  in  Wisconsin. 

Dr.  True.  Does  your  work  have  any  relation  specially  to  the  colleges?  Do  you 
encourage  the  farmers  to  have  their  sons  attend  the  college? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  One  of  our  difficulties  is  to  induce  the  class  of  workers  that 
we  want  to  leave  their  farms  long  enough  to  attend  to  the  institute  work.  We 
can  not  hold  the  professors  at  our  institute  meetings  for  six  days  in  the  week. 
We  have  tried  some  of  the  young  men  from  the  agricultural  college  as  lecturers, 
but  many  of  our  farmers  have  not  much  confidence  in  them.  On  one  occasion 
when  we  brought  upon  the  stage  a  young  man  who  had  just  completed  his  course 
at  college  and  who  looked  rather  young,  one  of  our  most  successful  farmers 
reached  over  to  one  of  us  and  said:  "I  am  going  out.  I  like  to  hear  men  of 
experience.  When  you  bring  out  a  youth  of  twenty  years  to  teach  farming  to  a 
man  who  has  been  at  the  business  forty  years,  it  is  time  for  me  to  quit."  That  is 
one  of  the  troubles  we  have  found  in  putting  young  men  on  the  platform  in  this 
work.  But  I  am  watching  some  of  the  short-course  boys  very  closely:  they  take 
an  interest  in  the  institute  and  they  help  us  very  efficiently:  I  think  they  are 
developing;  in  fact,  I  expect  to  put  one  or  two  of  them  in  the  field  this  year. 
They  have  been  working  on  their  farms  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  since  com- 
pleting their  course,  and  I  think  they  look  old  enough  now  not  to  be  suspected 
of  being  destitute  of  all  practical  experience. 

A  Delegate.  You  spoke  of  supplying  your  speakers  with  certain  charts  and 
models.     Does  each  corps  carry  charts  appropriate  to  its  particular  line  of  work? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  Yes,  sir.  In  holding  our  meetings  during  the  winter  we  use 
five  corps  of  workers.  Each  corps  has  a  conductor,  who  has  charge  of  the  meet- 
ing. They  generally  have  a  local  chairman  who  presides.  That  position,  how- 
ever, is  rather  an  honorary  one.     Our  conductor  is  the  man  who  does  the  hard 


64 

work.  He  has  an  assistant.  We  try  to  match  the  two  men  properly.  Perhaps 
one  Ie  a  horse-breeder  and  a  successful  corn-grower;  the  other  man  a  swine- 
breeder  and  a  dairyman  combined.  Or  one  of  them  may  be  a  successful  clover 
man,  who  understands  all  about  the  bacteria  of  clover,  who  can  give  the  fruits  of 
scientific  research  so  far  as  it  has  reached  along  that  line.  Thus  those  two  men 
cover  a  wry  wide  field;  and  we  make  them  work  together.  Some  of  these  men 
who  are  specialists  carry  their  special  charts.  Each  man  talks  on  the  subject  he 
is  "posted"  upon.  By  working  those  men  in  pairs,  we  cover  a  very  wide  field 
with  each  pair.     An  extra  man  may  come  in  and  do  extra  work. 

We  aim  to  teach  better  methods,  and  as  far  as  possible  teach  the  why  underly- 
ing the  how. 

A  DELEGATE.  To  teach  the  science  of  the  thing? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  Yes,  sir;  to  teach  the  science.  I  will  say  that  among  our 
workers  we  have  men  who  have  read  the  livestock  journals  from  the  time  they 
were  first  issued,  have  taken  the  best  agricultural  papers;  who  have  been  getting 
the  bulletins  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  bulletins  of  the  experiment 
stations  ever  since  they  have  been  issued.  If  I  find  a  man  who  has  been  pretty 
successful  in  matters  of  practical  farming  but  who  has  not  been  reading  up.  I 
insist  on  his  doing  so,  on  his  getting  the  why  as  well  as  the  how.  If  he  does  not 
read  up,  he  simply  drops  behind  in  the  race,  the  same  as  our  ordinary  farmers  do 
if  they  do  not  ';  keep  up  with  the  procession/' 

We  pay  our  men  a  little  differently  from  the  plan  in  Ohio.  We  have,  however. 
a  regular  plan  which  we  follow  as  nearly  as  possible.  I  am  allowed  all  the  lati- 
tude that  I  require,  but  at  the  same  time  there  is  a  sort  of  unwritten  law  which 
we  do  not  unjustifiably  depart  from.  A  new  man  is  allowed  such  an  amount  as 
may  seem  proper.  When  he  becomes  a  regular  worker  we  pay  him  |20  a  week 
to  the  regular  assistant,  $25  a  week.  Their  actual  service  extends  over  four  days 
of  the  week. 

A  Delegate.  But  in  connection  with  their  work  they  are  occupied  the  whole 
week? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  Yes;  including  travel  to  and  from  their  homes  at  the  end  of 
one  week  and  the  beginning  of  another.  The  southern  half  of  our  State,  in  which 
our  winter  institute  work  is  largely  done,  is  well  covered  with  railroads,  so  that 
the  men,  by  using  the  night  trains,  can  be  home  Saturday  morning,  and  then,  by 
leaving  home  Monday  evening,  they  can  be  at  their  appointments  on  Tuesday 
morning. 

A  Delegate.  Do  you  pay  their  expenses? 

Mr.  McKerrow.  Yes;  we  pay  all  expenses.  I  must  say  that  the  railroads  in 
Wisconsin  have  been  very  liberal  with  us,  although  now,  under  the  anti-pass  law. 
we  have  to  pay  for  everything  we  get  from  the  railroads.  In  our  bulletin  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  railroad  advertising,  quite  largely  the  advertising  of  railroad  lands 
in  northern  Wisconsin.  This  is  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  $50  a  page,  just  the  same 
as  is  paid  by  other  advertisers.  In  the  days  before  the  anti-pass  law  the  railroads 
used  to  say:  "Put  all  the  institutes  along  our  lines,  and  we  will  make  it  all  right 
for  you  make  custom  for  our  lines." 

A.  L.  Martin,  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Institute  Workers 
As  it  is  now  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  after  10  o'clock,  I  will  detain  you  by  only  a  lew 
remarks  on  the  question  of  methods. 

One  method  that  we  have  found  to  work  well  in  Pennsylvania  is  to  begin  th( 
institute  at  the  right  time,  the  advertised  time,  and  to  close  it  at  the  proper  time 
net  to  weary  the  audience:  and  that  rule,  it  seems  to  me,  ought  to  hold  gooc 
everywhere. 

Pennsylvania  was  among  the  first  to  inaugurate  farmers'  institutes.  Last  year 
we  carried  <  >n  in  that  State  '32i  institutes.     We  have  had  a  vast  amount  of  experienc< 


along  this  line.  We  have  doI  found  any  difficulty  in  onr  state  in  getting  proper 
attendance  at  the  meetings.  Onr  difficulty  has  been  to  gel  halls  or  churchesof 
sufficient  size  to  accommodate  the  people  who  wished  to  take  pari  in  the. meet- 
ings. Last  year  over  150,000  persons  attended  these  324  institutes.  If  time 
allowed  I  might  tell  you  in  detail  how  we  broughl  this  about.  The  question 
simply  was  one  of  adopting  suitable  methods  and  subjects.  I  may  develop  this 
subject  further  at  a  later  meeting  of  the  convention. 

A  Delegate.  You  say  that  yon  have  had  during  the  last  year  324  institutes. 
Over  how  many  days  does  an  institute  extend? 

Mr.  Martin.  We  have  had  one-day,  two-day.  and  three-day  institutes.  The 
meetings  begin  in  December  and  end  in  March.  Each  day  there  are  three  ses- 
sions— morning,  afternoon,  and  evening. 

A  Delegate.  What  is  the  average  number  of  days  for  your  institutes? 

Mr.  Martin.  We  have  something  like  60  one-day  institutes:  about  10  three- 
day  institutes,  and  the  balance  two-day  institutes. 

Mr.  Spillman.  There  is  one  suggestion  which  may  be  helpful  to  some  of  the 
people  in  new  sections.  In  our  locality  we  have  had  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  in 
getting  young  men  to  take  the  agricultural  course  at  our  agricultural  colleges, 
and  I  have  heard  that  such  is  the  case  in  one  o  ■  two  other  States.  To  overcome 
this  difficulty  we  have  adopted  a  method  which  has  had  very  good  results.  We 
have  had  prepared  very  nice  buttons,  each  having  on  it  a  picture  of  the  agricul- 
tural building,  with  its  name,  etc.  To  every  man  attending  the  institute  meet- 
ings we  gave  one  of  these  buttons.  Most  of  the  receivers  wore  them:  many  took 
them  home  and  gave  them  to  their  boys.  We  regarded  this  as  a  good  way  of 
advertising  our  college. 

Mr.  Martin.  Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Workers:  I  have  hastily  prepared  and 
will  read  some  points  in  regard  to  our  manner  of  conducting  farmers'  institutes 
in  Pennsylvania. 

The  farmers'  institutes  of  Pennsylvania  had  their  origin  among  the  earliest 
established  by  the  States,  and  were  conducted  by  what  was  known  as  the  Penn- 
sylvania State  board  of  agriculture  up  to  1895,  at  which  date  the  department  of 
agriculture  was  established  by  act  of  assembly,  and  the-division  of  institutes  given 
in  charge  of  the  deputy  secretary  of  agriculture,  who  is  known  as  director  of 
institutes. 

The  farmers'  institutes  of  Pennsylvania  have  long  since  passed  wThat  some  are 
pleased  to  call  the  "  problematic  stage,"  and  are  to-day  filling  such  an  important 
place  in  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  Commonwealth  as  to  render  their  con- 
tinuance of  paramount  importance.  Last  year  there  were  held  324  days  of  insti- 
tute, a  greater  number  than  any  preceding  year,  and  in  all  782  sessions.  Sixty-five 
different  lecturers  represented  the  department  at  these  meetings.  The  lecturers 
were  selected  and  employed  by  reason  of  their  special  fitness  as  teachers  and 
instructors.  Many  of  them  have  devoted  their  entire  lives  to  the  study  of  some 
line  of  knowledge  relating  to  agriculture.  Others  were  up-to-date,  x^ractical  farm- 
ers, qualified  to  give  the  very  best  practice  and  their  personal  experience  of  farm 
operations  on  the  home  farm.  Also  attending  these  institutes,  and  in  conjunction 
with  the  lecturers  employed  by  the  institute  division.  wTere  C84  local  institute 
workers.  This  army  of  workers,  which  in  Pennsylvania  may  be  fairly  classed  as 
the  volunteer  corps,  consists  of  men  and  women  who  reside  within  the  bounds  of 
the  county  where  the  institute  is  held. 

Thus  we  bring  to  our  meetings  the  experience,  practice,  and  mode  of  farm  oper- 
ations as  carried  on  in  the  different  counties  and  sections  of  the  State.  We 
develop  an  interest  in  the  work  that  scarcely  can  be  obtained  in  any  other  way 
and  at  the  same  time  encourage  on  the  part  of  the  farmers  of  the  State  a  disposi- 

9953— No.  120—02 5 


66 

fcion  i"  better  prepare  themselves  for  life's  work  by  personally  studying  these 
problems  with  the  idea  of  presenting  a  paper  or  an  address  at  the  public  meeting. 

In  all  our  two-day  institutes  one  session,  which  is  usually  presided  over  by  a 
woman  and  is  known  as  the  ladies'  session,  is  devoted  to  the  interest  of  the  coun- 
try home.  Here  are  discussed  questions  of  domestic  science,  household  economics, 
sanitary  conditions,  as  well  as  social  surroundings. 

Our  institutes  have  especially  advanced  along  this  line  by  making  use  of  teach- 
ers from  cooking  schools,  which  are  established  in  many  counties  of  the  State. 
These  teachers  frequently  bring  their  classes  to  the  institutes  and  give  instructive 
and  entertaining  object  lessons  in  the  preparation  of  certain  foods. 

We  still  hold  to  the  practice  of  an  educational  session,  the  interest  in  which  is 
increasing  year  by  year.  At  this  session  are  discussed  all  questions  relating  to 
the  education  of  the  fanner  and  his  children;  the  improvement  of  the  country 
school;  advantages  of  the  centralized  school,  which  we  predict  will,  in  the  near 
future,  revolutionize  the  education  of  the  farmers'  children,  nature  study,  and 
kindred  topics.  Regarding  all  these  questions  the  interest  is  increasing,  and  the 
dei  i  iand  for  broader  and  deeper  knowledge  and  better  practice  is  the  most  encourag- 
ing compliment  that  can  be  paid  to  the  usefulness  of  the  work  in  Pennsylvania. 

I  will  supplement  the  paper  I  have  just  read  by  a  few  remarks  regarding  the 
manner  of  interesting  people  in  the  different  counties  so  as  to  induce  them  to 
attend  the  farmers' institutes.  This  I  take  to  be  a  very  important  problem  in 
many  States,  as  it  has  been  in  Pennsylvania. 

In  listening  to  the  paper  I  have  just  read,  you  must  have  observed  the  vast 
army  of  local  volunteer  institute  workers  of  whose  services  we  have  availed  our- 
selves. The  programme  in  Pennsylvania  is  prepared  under  the  advice  of  the  depart- 
ment by  a  county  chairman  of  institutes,  who  appoints  in  each  of  the  different 
counties  and  localities  where  the  institutes  are  to  be  held  an  institute  committee 
of  ten.  fifteen,  or  twenty  men  and  women,  who  in  conjunction  with  the  county 
chairman  prepare  a  programme,  on  which  the  leading  men  and  women  of  that  com- 
munity are  placed.  In  addition  to  this  corps  of  local  workers,  two  or  three  State 
speakers  attend  all  these  meetings.  In  this  way  the  interest  of  the  locality  is 
enlisted.  The  endeavor  is  to  place  upon  the  programme  the  names  of  the  brightest 
men  and  women  whose  services  can  be  obtained.  Of  course  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  community  will  want  to  hear  their  friends  who  have  been  placed  on 
the  programme.  I  take  it  that  this  move  has  in  our  State  gathered  more  people 
to  our  institutes  than  perhaps  any  other  agency. 

When  the  institute  meets  we  always  have  in  attendance  one  man  versed  in 
some  particular  line  of  agricultural  science  or  knowledge — a  man  qualified  by 
study  and  research  to  answer  every  reasonable  question  that  may  come  up.  from 
a  scientific  stamtpoint.  if  possible. 

Then,  again,  we  have  there  the  practical  man.  the  man  who  has  had  his  sleeves 
rolled  up  on  the  farm  and  who  has  made  a  success  in  some  line  of  farming  opera- 
tions. He  is  there  to  give  his  practical  experience  and  the  methods  by  which  he 
has  succeeded. 

Then,  again,  we  have  the  people  of  the  locality  generally  cooperating  with  us. 
By  means  of  these  three  forces  we  carry  on  the  great  work  in  our  State.  That 
work  is  growing.  It  has  grown  to  such  an  extent  that  we  can  not  find  halls  or 
churches  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  people  who  come. 

A  Delegate.  What  is  the  average  attendance? 

Mr.  Martin.  The  average  attendance  last  year  was  -1ST:  that  is  83  persons  per 
session.  Many  of  our  meetings  have  been  so  crowded  that  we  have  had  to  hold 
overflow  meetings.  In  our  two-day  institutes  the  interest  has  increased  as  the 
sessions  proceeded. 

The  Prksident.  Do  your  audiences  come  there  to  be  entertained  or  instructed? 


67 

Mr.  Martin.  The  audiences  come  to  be  entertained  and  instructed  both,  espe- 
cially t  -  be  instructed.     It  is  difficult  to  separate  those  two  questions.     You  can 

not  instruct  a  person  unless  yon  entertain  him.  You  must  enlist  the  interest  of 
the  people  by  giving  them  a  measurable  amount  of  entertainment.  To  illustrate, 
the  county  superintendent  of  public  schools  almost  universally  attends  the  educa- 
tional session  of  the  institute,  and  the  question  of  the  education  of  the  farmer 
naturally  comes  up.  This  we  call  entertainment,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  instruc- 
tion of  the  highest  order  in  the  direction  of  the  education  that  the  farmer  needs. 

A  Deleg  \tk.  How  much  money  does  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  appropriate  for 
farmers'  institute  work? 

Mr.  MARTIN.  Pennsylvania  has  increased  her  appropriation  almost  year  by  year, 
until  two  years  ago  $25,000  was  appropriated  for  the  term  of  two  years  $12,500 
per  year.  The  last  legislature  increased  this  appropriation  to  $30,000  for  the  two 
years,  to  he  devoted  exclusively  to  the  work  of  the  farmers*  institutes.  Although 
this  may  seem  a  large  appropriation,  it  is  spread  out  pretty  thin  when  divided 
among  the  61  counties  of  our  State. 

A  DELEGATE.   Do  you  have  any  music  on  your  programme? 

Mr.  Martin.  Oh,  yes.  Music  is  the  life  and  soul  of  a  meeting  of  any  kind. 
When  we  hold  our  meeting  in  a  church  the  church  choir  comes  in  and  by  its  sing- 
ing enlists  the  interest   >f  the  very  best  people. 

One  thing  I  should  say  in  this  connection — you  can  not  enlist  the  interest  of  the 
community  in  any  meeting  anywhere  in  the  United  States  unless  you  enlist  the 
interest  of  the  women  of  the  community.  At  our  meetings  the  old  farmer's  wife 
sits  beside  her  husband  with  her  pencil  and  book  and  jots  down  items  that  seem 
important.  The  men  bring  their  wives  to  these  institutes,  and  in  this  way  the 
interest  is  largely  increased. 

A  Delegate.  Do  any  of  your  lecturers  use  stereopticons  in  their  evening  work? 

Mr.  Martin.  Yes.  sir:  we  have  stereopticon  views  illustrating,  for  instance, 
landscape  gardening  and  also  giving  pictures  of  the  insects  which  are  the  foes  of 
the  farmer,  showing  the  history  of  these  insects  and  how  to  prevent  or  destroy 
them.  Other  views  may  illustrate  the  subject  of  forestry,  for  instance — an  impor- 
tant subject  with  reference  to  soils.  The  exhibition  of  these  views  is  both  enter- 
taining and  instructive.  Entertainment  and  instruction  thus  go  hand  in  hand. 
The  people  crowd  in  so  that  often  it  is  impossible  to  accommodate  them. 

Mr.  Van  Deman.  I  am  an  institute  worker  who  travels  in  various  States,  and  of 
course  I  see  different  (lasses  of  institutes.  Allow  me  to  say  that  as  to  this  matter 
of  conducting  institutes  on  the  amusement  plan  I  think  it  is  a  great  mistake.  In 
my  experience  the  country  audiences  carry  away  a  great  many  more  sensible,  use- 
ful thoughts  from  meetings  that  are  conducted  in  a  straightforward,  plain 
common-sense  fashion. 

One  more  point,  and  that  is  in  regard  to  the  ability  of  the  institute  workers  to 
make  themselves  clearly  understood  by  the  people  whom  we  are  trying  to  instruct. 
I  have  taught  in  a  class  room:  I  have  never  been  connected  with  any  experiment 
station:  but  I  know  we  have  a  great  many  scientific  men  who  are  very  able  in 
their  way  to  conduct  experiments  and  perhaps  teach  in  the  class  room,  but  who, 
when  they  come  before  an  audience  of  ordinary  farmers  and  their  families,  are 
dead,  flat  failures.  There  is  no  question  about  it,  you  must  have  men  who  can 
talk  distinctly  and  in  plain  words,  so  that  the  common  people  may  catch  the  idea. 
It  is  very  often  a  great  mistake  for  an  institute  superintendent  to  select  a  college 
professor  or  an  experiment  station  worker,  however  good  he  may  be  in  his  proper 
line  of  work,  to  go  out  before  the  people  and  address  them,  because  in  many  cases 
they  can  not  understand  him.  I  think  this  is  one  point  that  the  superintendents 
ought  to  be  particular  about,  not  to  send  out  from  the  stations  or  the  colleges  or 
anywhere  else  men  who  can  not  talk  intelligently  and  pleasantly  and  entertain- 
ingly and  distinctly  before  the  people. 


68 

THE     FARMERS'    INSTITUTE    AS    A    FACTOR     IN    CREATING    A 
DESIRE  FOR  AN  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION. 

Secretary  John  Hamilton,  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture.  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
sented the  following  paper  on  this  subject: 

Mr.  President,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen:  This  is  a  subject  in  which  I  am 
greatly  interested,  yet  in  the  time  which  I  have  had  from  other  duties  I  have  not 
had  opportunity  to  prepare  myself  for  presenting  it  in  such  form  as  I  would  like. 

Before  there  can  be  a  true  desire  for  agricultural  education,  or  any  other  thing, 
there  must  first  be  a  realization  of  need  for  that  thing.  Desire  for  money  is  the 
result  of  some  appreciation  of  its  necessity  and  worth.  Desire  for  clothing  is 
created,  first,  by  the  necessity  of  its  use  for  protection,  and,  later,  by  its  value  in 
improving  appearance.  The  desire  for  food  is,  first,  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of 
hunger,  and,  later,  to  please  the  palate.  The  desire  for  houses  is,  first,  to  secure 
shelter  from  the  storm,  and,  later,  to  provide  comfort,  convenience,  and  luxury 
and  to  gratify  architectural  taste. 

The  desire  for  agricultural  education  is  created  in  a  similar  way  and  upon  the 
same  principle.  In  agricultural  education  there  is.  first,  the  desire  for  information 
in  regard  to  the  simplest  mechanical  methods  employed  in  agriculture,  and  later 
for  accurate  knowledge  of  principles  and  of  the  scientific  reasons  for  doing  things. 

The  development  of  this  desire  for  education  is  stimulated  by  the  same  methods 
that  are  employed  by  the  merchant  in  exposing  his  wares  in  a  show  window  or 
upon  a  counter  case.  Articles  which  the  passer-by  never  before  saw  are  placed 
where  he  can  scarcely  avoid  beholding  them.  His  eye  catches  a  glimpse  of  some- 
thing that  attracts  him.  He  stops,  examines,  finds  that  it  will  be  useful  to  him, 
inquires  the  price,  purchases  it,  and  introduces  it  into  his  home. 

About  nine  years  ago  the  writer  spent  a  week  in  a  village  in  the  mountains  of 
one  of  our  newer  States.  The  village  was  situated  60  miles  from  a  railroad,  and 
its  only  approaches  were  over  a  narrow  trail,  by  horseback,  or  by  canoe  on  the 
river.  The  visit  was  continued  over  the  Sabbath.  The  only  religious  service  in 
the  town  was  a  Sabbath-school  meeting.  The  building  in  which  the  children 
assembled  was  a  dilapidated  old  schoolhouse,  covered  with  clapboards.  The 
children  were  poorly  clad — many  with  unwashed  faces — and  in  ragged  dress. 
There  were  no  music  books,  the  lines  being  repeated,  two  at  a  time,  and  then  sung. 
There  was  no  library;  there  were  no  papers  for  distribution — nothing  to  invite 
attendance.  Within  the  past  year  I  again  visited  the  same  village  and  attended 
the  Sabbath  school.  The  meeting  was  held  in  a  fine,  commodious,  new  church 
building,  neatly  painted,  well  lighted,  and  furnished  with  comfortable  seats.  The 
children  were  all  as  clean  and  well  dressed  as  any  to  be  seen  in  any  Pennsylvania 
town.  The  singing  was  from  modern  books  of  music:  there  was  a  fine  organ  and 
an  excellent  choir.  There  were  library  books  and  religious  papers  for  the  chil- 
dren; in  short,  they  had  all  of  the  appliances  of  a  thrifty,  well-equipped,  modern 
Sabbath  school. 

The  change  from  the  school  of  nine  years  ago  was  caused  by  a  railroad  that 
brought  to  the  town  the  fashions,  manners,  and  customs  of  more  advanced  com- 
munities and  gave  opportunity  for  the  people  to  see  what  there  is  in  the  world. 
The  exhibition  of  taste  in  dress,  of  cleanliness  in  habit,  and  of  the  conveniences, 
comforts,  and  luxuries  of  civilized  life  which  had  been  brought  to  them  by  a  rail- 
road had  excited  such  a  desire  for  their  possession  that  in  the  comparatively  short 
time  of  nine  years  the  whole  community  was  radically  changed  and  wonderfully 
improved. 

The  farmers'  institute  has  wrought  similar  changes  and  like  improvement  in 
countless  communities  and  by  similar  means.  It  has  been  to  the  farmer  what  the 
show  window  was  to  the  stroller  along  the  street  or  the  railroad  to  the  primitive 


69 

town.  It  first  attracted  attention.  Then  its  exhibit  of  new  ideas  and  of  improved 
methods  was  examined.  Their  value  and  adaptability  were  discussed  until  at 
length  many  of  the  suggestions  were  appropriated  and  pul  in  practice,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  the  individual  and  the  community  in  which  the  institute  was 
held.  Apathy  in  agriculture,  as  in  other  callings,  is  the  result  of  either  ignorance 
or  stupidity.  The  properly  conducted  farmers1  institute  breaks  up  this  apathy  by 
bringing  into  the  community  a  choice  collection  of  new  ideas  and  exhibiting  them. 

It  starts  questioning;  excites  curiosity:  leads  to  debate.  Discussion  is  followed  by 
experiment  and  later  results  in  the  formation  of  farmers'  clubs,  in  the  purchase 
and  study  of  books  relating  to  agricultural  topics,  and  finally  in  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  community  going  off  to  some  agricultural  school  or  college  to  satisfy 
that  intellectual  hunger  that  has  been  thus  created.  Those  who  remain  at  home 
use  the  correspondence  course,  which  has  done  so  much  for  agriculture  in  these 
recent  years. 

The  fanners"  institute  that  is  to  fulfill  its  mission  is  a  traveling  exhibit  of  intel- 
lectual agricultural  wares.  The  higher  the  grade  of  this  collection  the  better  and 
more  useful  the  institute  will  be.  It  can  be  rated  along  much  the  same  lines  as  a 
show.  A  poor  show  is  made  up  of  poor  acrobats,  poor  trick  animals,  low-grade 
comedians,  dull  jokes,  poor  equipment,  and  is  altogether  set  down  by  an  amuse- 
ment-loving public  as  a  swindle.  A  good  show,  on  the  other  hand,  has  highly 
trained  acrobats,  well-bred  and  well-educated  trick  animals,  high-grade  tragedians. 
bright,  sharp,  and  pointed  jokes,  and  splendid  equipment.  The  amusement- 
loving  public  is  entertained,  and  the  manager  of  this  show  is  cordially  invited 
to  come  around  next  year. 

Wherever  a  farmers'  institute  is  held  that  has  well-trained  speakers,  finely 
equipped,  expert,  enthusiastic  lecturers,  agreeable  and  capable  managers,  com- 
fortable  surroundings,  and  a  live,  wide-awake  up-to-date  programme  there  will  be 
excited  in  that  community  an  interest,  intellectual  and  practical,  that  will  not  die 
out  with  the  close  of  the  institute  sessions.  If  the  best  results  are  to  be  obtained, 
all  old,  shop-worn  goods  must  be  gotten  rid  of  regardless  of  cost.  Nothing  except 
fresh,  clean,  up-to-date  material  can  be  permitted  in  the  modern  institute.  Every 
institute  ought  to  be  a  show  window  that  will  be  remembered,  an  exhibition  never 
to  be  forgotten  by  the  Community  that  beheld  it.  and  impressions  ought  to  be 
made  that  will  never  be  obliterated  or  cease  to  influence  for  good  those  who  have 
received  them. 

Desire  for  knowledge  is  a  universal  and  natural  desire.  Our  ancestral  mother. 
Eve,  is  recorded  as  having  possessed  it  in  high  degree,  and  yet  it  is  a  question 
whether  or  not  she  would  not  be  outclassed  when  compared  in  this  respect  with 
the  men  and  women  of  modern  times.  The  modern  institute  manager,  appreci- 
ating this  common  quality  in  human  nature,  will  make  it  his  chief  concern  to 
gratify  this  desire  and  see  that  there  is  presented  to  the  audience  something  new 
and  useful  to  think  about  and  that  it  is  served  up  in  an  agreeable  and  entertain- 
ing way.  He  will  imitate  the  wisdom  that  guided  the  individual  who  beguiled 
our  ancestral  mother  in  selecting  apples.  He  chose  a  good  one,  '•  one  that  was 
agreeable  to  the  eye.  pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  calculated  to  make  one  wise." 
Follow  his  example  in  choosing  topics  and  persons  to  present  them,  and  you  will 
soon  discover  that  the  farmers'  institute  may  be  made  a  powerful  factor  in  "  cre- 
ating desire"  for  agricultural  education  and  that  the  field  of  experimentation, 
the  correspondence  courses,  and  the  schools  of  agriculture  will  be  rilled  with 
anxious  students. 

Agricultural  education  has  just  begun  its  work.  The  field  that  science  has 
explored  and  accurately  mapped  in  this  direction  is  as  yet  comparatively  small. 
Its  borders,  however,  are  rapidly  expanded  year  by  year. 

The  public  are  fast  awakening  to  the  possibilities  of  soil  production  and  to  the 


70 

opportunities  in  agriculture  that  hitherto  have  been  unused  because  of  lack  of 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  those  who  pass  them  by.  The  fanners"  institute  has 
been  calling  attention  to  some  of  these  opportunities  and  has  been  rousing  the 
people  to  a  better  realization  of  the  profit,  dignity,  comfort,  independence,  and 
intellectual  character  of  the  farmers  occupation,  intelligently  pursued.  The 
farmers"  institute  has  become  a  great  stimulator  of  effort,  suggester  of  inquiry, 
and  incentive  to  the  study  and  solution  of  the  problems  that  have  perplexed  the 
agriculturists  in  all  of  the  ages  that  have  passed. 

The  thirst  for  knowledge  in  this  direction  is  becoming  more  and  more  intense. 
New  needs  are  being  created  day  by  day.  and  greater  skill  and  exactness  are  being 
required  in  all  of  the  operations  of  the  farm  in  order  to  supply  these  needs.  The 
age  of  guessing  is  fast  giving  way  to  that  of  demonstration,  and  rural  life  is  rap- 
idly lifting  itself  out  of  the  dull  slough  of  empiricism  and  drudgery  into  the  more 
delightful  and  profitable  realm  of  intellectual  life.  It  is  fast  becoming  a  highly 
intellectual  pursuit.  The  great  lever  that  is  aiding  as  much  a>  any  other  in  this 
good  work  is  the  farmers'  institute  or  meeting,  where  discussion  of  the  farmer *-s 
condition  and  surroundings  is  critically  and  intelligently  had  and  where  the 
presentation  of  better  methods  for  self-help  and  self-improvement  is  made  by 
experts  whose  right  to  give  instruction  has  been  secured  by  careful  study,  obser- 
vation, and  experience  of  the  subjects  they  profess  to  teach.  The  need  for  educa- 
tion in  agriculture  is  being  felt  more  each  day.  and  this  realization  is  largely  due 
to  the  splendid  work  of  the  men  and  women  who  have  been  engaged  during 
recent  years  in  institute  work,  in  holding  up  before  our  farming  people  the  dis- 
coveries modern  science  has  revealed,  and  in  showing  the  adaptability  of  these 
discoveries  to  the  varied  conditions  that  exist  throughout  the  land. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  add  a  word  or  two  to  the  foregoing  statements. 

I  think  we  have  all  come  to  realize  the  absolute  necessity  for  scientific  teaching 
if  we  are  to  stimulate  a  desire  for  agricultural  education.  The  instructor  must 
be  a  man  who  is  superior  to  his  audience  in  the  information  which  he  intends  to 
impart.  If  he  is  inferior,  or  if  he  deals  in  commonplace  things— if  he  h::s  no  new 
ideas  to  suggest — he  gives  no  stimulus  to  thought  and  is  discredited  before  the 
audience,  no  matter  how  excellent  may  be  his  personal  character  or  how  success- 
ful he  may  be  as  a  farmer  at  home. 

He  must  be  able  to  present  what  he  has  to  say  in  such  a  manner  as  will  carry 
conviction.  The  matter  must  be  such  as  to  excite  thought  in  the  direction  in 
which  he  wishes  to  give  instruction. 

So  we  are  coming  to  be  more  and  more  dependent  upon  our  scientific  men — men 
who  are  careful  thinkers — who  make  no  assertions  that  are  not  justified  by  the 
scientific  facts  as  they  have  been  discovered. 

Our  farmers  are  coming  to  discredit  a  man  who  gets  up  and  makes  a  ' '  spread- 
eagle  "  speech  simply  for  immediate  effect  and  tells  jokes  simply  for  the  laughter 
and  applause  they  may  elicit.  The  people  want  some  man  who  has  something  to 
say  that  is  of  value  to  them,  something  that  is  in  advance  of  anything  they  have 
understood  themselves.  They  want  to  listen  to  a  man  who  is  an  expert  in  some 
line,  and  they  wish  him  to  state  his  ideas  clearly,  so  that  the  most  uncultivated 
may  understand  exactly  what  he  is  talking  about.  This  requires  in  the  instructor 
a  man  who  thinks  and  who  is  trained  in  the  expression  of  thought.  It  is  not 
every  scientific  man  who  can  make  the  impression  that  such  teaching  should 
produce. 

We  are  therefore  coming  to  be  dependent  upon  our  agricultural  colleges  and 
our  scientific  men  for  the  accurate  information  that  our  farming  people  now 
demand.  Ten  years  ago,  when  I  first  had  charge  of  our  institutes  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, the  same  class  of  instruction  that  is  demanded  to-day  was  not  required.  The 
great  difficulty  now  is  to  get  men  who  are  capable  of  giving  instruction,  taking 


71 

into  account  the  advances  that  have  been  made  on  the  pari  of  our  termers  in 

science  and  in  appreciation  of  the  truths  of  science. 

That  is  the  first  thing  I  wanted  to  say— that  we  are  coming  now  to  need  more 
and  more  in  these  institutes,  if  we  are  going  to  succeed  in  creating  a  desire  for 
agricultural  education,  teachers  who  know  what  they  are  talking  about  and  are 
up  to  the  front  in  relation  to  the  scientific  truths  that  they  are  undertaking  to 
present.     That  is  the  first  thing. 

The  next  tiling,  in  my  opinion,  is  that  the  farmers'  institutes  need  to  make  use 
more  and  more  of  the  work  of  the  experiment  stations  of  the  country.  There 
ought  to  be  presented  in  our  farmers'  institutes,  before  the  agricultural  people, 
abstracts  of  some  of  the  excellent  bulletin  work  that  has  been  done  by  our  best 
scientific  men  in  the  experiment  stations.  We  need  to  call  the  attention  of  our 
agricultural  people  to  the  very  great  value  of  these  publications  and  urge  them 
to  secure  them  and  read  them.  Although  many  are  now  doing  this,  yet  great 
numbers  of  our  farming  people  know  nothing  of  what  is  being  done  in  their  behalf 
by  the  scientific  institutions  known  as  experiment  stations  throughout  the  country. 

So.  too,  the  work  that  is  being  done  by  the  Department  here  in  Washington, 
the  results  of  which  are  being  embodied  in  its  bulletins,  ought  to  be  urged  on  the 
attenti  n  of  the  farmers.  The  institutes,  if  they  are  going  to  create  a  desire  for 
agricultural  education,  ought  to  try  to  create  a  desire  for  accurate  information — 
for  the  best  there  is.  not  for  some  man's  prediction  or  guess,  but  for  knowledge 
that  has  been  authoritatively  ascertained.  The  institute  lecturers  and  managers 
can  do  a  great  deal  to  excite  a  desire  for  agricultural  education  by  calling  atten- 
tion to  these  publications  and  showing  their  very  great  value  to  farming  people. 

The  next  thing,  and  the  most  important  of  all,  it  seems  to  me.  the  culmination, 
perhaps,  of  what  is  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  agricultural  education  is  the  creation 
of  a  desire  for  agricultural  education  of  high  grade,  such  as  the  colleges  give. 

But  the  thought  immediately  before  my  mind  just  now  is  the  need  of  creating 
a  desire  for  agricultural  knowledge  among  the  children  of  the  country.  This  is 
the  foundation  question  in  education  to-day,  so  far  as  agriculture  is  concerned. 
This  work  in  which  we  are  engaged  is  an  excellent  work:  it  has  awakened  a  great 
interest,  and  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  in  the  advancement  of  agriculture 
all  over  the  country.  But  in  a  certain  sense  it  is.  I  was  going  to  say.  superficial; 
but  that  is  not  the  word  I  want  to  use.  The  difficulty  is  that  in  respect  to  this 
knowledge  we  are  now  dealing  with  a  class  of  men  who  are  going  to  disappear 
very  soon,  and  we  are  not  getting  the  benefit  of  their  life  work  as  we  should  have 
it.  If  the  man  of  twenty  could,  through  our  work,  be-  equipped  with  the  informa- 
tion that  some  men  here  have,  and  then  be  put  to  work,  with  forty  years  before 
him  in  which  to  apply  the  things  he  has  learned,  he  would  be  likely  to  be  of  more 
service  to  the  country,  of  course,  than  the  man  of  60  years  of  age  who.  whatever 
he  may  know,  is  likely  to  die  in  the  course  of  five  or  ten  years. 

But  the  agricultural  education  now  being  given  by  farmers"  institutes  is  meet- 
ing this  demand  and  this  necessity.  It  is  creating  an  interest  in  agricultural  edu- 
cation on  the  part  of  the  grown-up  men  who  have  control  of  tic  institutions  of 
the  country,  and  while  they  themselves  can  never  hope  to  have  the  advantages 
that  the  children  of  to-day  are  enjoying  and  will  enjoy,  yet  they  can  implant 
their  knowledge  in  the  minds  of  the  children  and  can  make  them  appreciative  of 
what  this  education  means. 

So  I  think  that  a  large  part  of  the  educational  work  of  the  farmers'  institutes 
must  be  directed  to  the  improvement  of  the  country  school,  to  the  stimulating  of 
a  desire  among  the  country  children  for  a  knowledge  of  natural  things.  And  we 
now  know  that  this  is  entirely  practicable — that  we  can  take  the  child,  however 
small,  and  make  the  most  valuable  knowledge  interesting  and  instructive  to  him, 
if  we  know  how. 


I  am  greatly  interested  in  this  phase  of  the  question,  because  I  think  this  is  the 
thing  that  we  are  to  aim  at  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  thing.    The  difficulty 

now  is  that  it  is  impracticable  to  carry  these  branches  of  study  into  most  of  our 
public  schools.     In  our  work  we  talk  about '*  nature  study.'1    In  our  tanners' 

institutes  in  Pennsylvania  we  Bet  apart  one  evening  for  the  discussion  of  the  edu- 
cation of  the  farmer  and  his  children.     We  have  been  at  that  for  a  number  of 

years,  trying  To  stir  up  the  people  in  this  matter  of  the  primary  education  of  chil- 
dren. To  these  meetings  we  in vite  the  school  teachers  and  school  children  and 
school  superintendents  and  school  directors  and  all  people  who  are  interested  in 
public  instruction.  They  have  responded  wonderfully,  so  that  there  has  come  to 
be  B  very  intelligent  interest  in  this  direction. 

At  each  one  of  our  evening  meetings  we  have  had  some  expert  give  illustrations 
of  how  "  nature  study  "  can  be  taught.  Very  often  on  such  occasions  the  lecturer 
has  a  body  of  little  children  right  in  front  of  him.  He  takes  a  peach  or  an  apple 
or  a  potato  and  gives  a  little  talk  upon  it  to  these  children.  We  find  that  some- 
time- there  is  a  body  of  little  children  who  have  lived  amongst  all  these  thingB, 
who  have  planted  potatoes  and  dug  potatoes,  and  yet  who  scarcely  know  what  a 
potato  is.  And  in  the  same  audience  there  will  he  men  who  have  raised  potatoes 
all  their  lives,  but  who.  from  such  a  lecture  as  this,  will  realize  that  they  never 
have  known  how  much  there  is  in  a  potato.  Thus  an  interest  is  created  such  as 
never  existed  before. 

The  next  question  in  regard  to  this  line  of  study  was  the  question  of  time.  For 
the  last  six  or  seven  years  I  have  been  making  a  crusade  in  our  State  to  break  up 
the  old  school  system  that  has  so  fossilized  that  in  many  of  the  country  districts 
it  is  not  as  good  as  it  was  forty  years  ago.  I  am  talking  of  the  country  districts. 
In  the  cities  the  schools  are  splendid:  the  children  get  a  fine  education  in  all  that 
a  child  needs.     But  the  country  school  has  been  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 

In  order  to  get  information  as  to  the  condition  of  things.  I  wrote  letters  t->  1 ,500 
school  districts  in  our  State,  and  I  received  replies  from  most  of  the  teachers.  I 
asked  them  how  many  classes  they  had  and  how  many  scholars  in  each.  I  had 
these  replies  collated,  so  that  I  could  get  at  the  average.  I  found  that  the  aver- 
age number  of  classes  that  a  country  school  teacher  hears  each  day  in  Pennsyl- 
vania is  27.  You  know  how  little  a  man  or  a  woman  can  do  with  27  class  - 
day.  and  that  is  the  average.  There  were  many  teachers  who  had  40  classes 
a  day.  The  studies  were  dimply  the  ordinary  studies  that  have  been  in  the 
schools  for  half  a  century.  Xow.  how  are  you  going  to  put  "  nature  study  "or 
any  similar  branch  of  study  into  such  a  curriculum  as  that? 

This  matter  was  brought  to  a  culmination  in  our  State  by  presenting  it  to  the 
State  legislature.  Last  winter  we  had  a  law  passed  which  authorizes  us  to  con- 
solidate our  country  schools — to  bring  a  number  of  them  into  a  central  school  and 
transfer  the  children  to  the  central  school — making  a  sort  of  high  school.  By 
having  the  schools  graded  we  can  put  in  1.  "2.  10,  or  50  teachers,  as  we  desire,  and 
we  can  establish  in  any  country  district  a  school  equal  to  the  best  in  any  town  or 
city  of  the  land.     That  is  the  solution  of  this  question. 

I  think  that  the  thing  for  the  institute  workers  here  to  work  for  is  the  improve- 
ment of  the  country  school,  so  that  the  farmers  may  educate  their  children  ont 
in  the  rural  districts  and  not  be  obliged  to  move  into  the  towns  or  cities  for  the  pur- 
p  iee  i  »f  giving  their  children  an  education.  Last  year  and  the  year  before  we  had 
in  Pennsylvania  1,043,000  immigrants,  of  whom  1,030,000  went  to  the  cities  and 
only  38,QQ0  to  the  country:  and  these  did  not  go  to  the  farming  sections,  but  to 
the  mining  and  lumbering  regions  of  our  State.  The  farming  sections  last  year 
in  Pennsylvania  lost  about  60,000.  What  is  the  reason?  The  parents  can  not 
educate  their  children  in  the  country  as  they  wish,  consequently  numb- 
them  did  what  every  sensible  parent  must  do  under  such  circumstances,  if  he  can, 
they  removed  to  the  towns. 


7:; 

Now.  if*  we  can  bo  extend  our  educational  system  in  the  country  district  as  to 
make  it  possible  for  parents  to  educate  their  children  properly  there,  they  will 
Btay  in  the  country  and  this  flow  of  people  from  the  country  to  the  city  will  be 
stopped.  I  think  that  the  aim  to-day  of  the  institute  work  should  be  this:  To 
bring  such  instruction  into  the  public  schools  that  the  children,  as  they  grow  into 
manhood  and  womanhood,  will  understand  the  natural  things  with  which  they 
are  surrounded  and  will  be  able  to  appreciate  the  higher  grade  of  instruction  thai 
is  to  come  in  agricultural  lines. 

Mr.  MlTJ.KR.  Secretary  Hamilton  has  covered  this  subject  fully,  and  I  indorse 
what  he  has  bo  well  and  interestingly  said. 

Mr.  Hardy,  of  Mississippi.  I  agree  with  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  (Mr.  Miller  J 
that  this  subject  has  been  so  well  covered  by  Mr.  Hamilton  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  undertake  to  add  anything  to  what  he  has  said. 

However.  I  will  say  that  we  are  trying  down  in  Mississippi  to  extend  the  farm- 
ers" institutes.  We  have  had  these  institutes  there  for  only  a  very  few  years.  We 
started  to  work  with  no  appropriation  at  all.  A  few  years  ago  we  received  an 
appropriation  of  $500;  this  year.  $3,000.  We  appreciate  the  value  of  the  farmers' 
institute  work  and  are  trying  to  extend  it.  If  we  can  carry  on  the  work  in  the 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Hamilton  has  outlined  it.  we  shall  not  only  stimulate  edu- 
cation along  agricultural  lines,  but  create  a  desire  for  improvement  al  mg  every 
line:  we  shall  stimulate  the  movement  for  good  roads,  which  i>  so  essential,  and 
the  improvement  of  the  public  schools  in  the  country  will  be  stimulated.  And  SO 
good  work  in  every  direction  will  be  helped  forward. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  Mr.  Hamilton  say  that  the  farmers'  institute  ought  to  make 
more  use — and  I  think  the  colleges  ought  to  make  more  use — of  the  instruction 
and  information  we  get  from  the  experiment  stations.  I  believe  that  this  Bbould 
be  the  basis  of  the  text-books.  I  believe  that  if  we  expect  to  get  this  stimulus  for 
agricultural  education  we  must  base  it  on  the  work  being  done  in  our  experiment 
stations.  My  idea  is  that  in  Mississippi  farmers'  clubs  should  be  organized  in 
every  supervisor's  district  of  the  State:  that  these  clubs  should  use  the  bulletins 
issued  by  the  experiment  stations  and  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Wash- 
ington as  text-books:  that  the  experiments  outlined  in  the  bulletins  of  the  experi- 
ment stations  should  lie  worked  out  and  the  results  should  be  discussed  in  the 
farmers'  clubs. 

An  agricultural  education  does  not  mean  merely  such  an  education  as  is 
obtained  in  our  agricultural  colleges.  It  means  the  contact  of  one  person  inter- 
ested in  a  given  branch  with  another  interested  in  the  same  branch,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  will  stimulate  such  contact  so  well  as  the  scientific  information 
obtained  in  our  experiment  stations. 

We  need  to  have  the  farmers'  clubs  coordinated  into  county  farmers'  institutes 
and  then  into  a  State  farmers'  institute,  having  a  stimulus  all  the  way  up,  based 
upon  scientific  knowledge  as  developed  in  our  experiment  stations. 

Mr.  Thompson,  of  West  Virginia.  If  I  have  any  "fad."  it  is  the  common 
school,  and  the  abuse  of  the  common  school  in  teaching  useless  trash  for  the 
purpose  of  "mental  development."  leaving  useful  knowledge  entirely  out  of  the 
question.  I  know  that  our  high  schools  in  West  Virginia  teach  the  scholars  a 
smattering  of  French,  a  smattering  of  Latin,  a  smattering  of  higher  mathematics. 
and  many  of  the  students  when  thev  come  out  of  the  schools  can  not  write  a  good 
English  sentence  and  can  not  even  spell  many  ordinary  English  words.  They 
know  nothing  about  the  scientific  and  correct  use  of  their  mother  tongue.  They 
know  nothing  about  the  things  that  they  will  want  to  use  in  their  active  lives. 

Now.  I  believe  we  ought  to  carry  out  Mr.  Hamilton's  plan  of  concentrating  a 
number  of  the  country  schools  into  one  central  school,  and  then  we  ought  to 
confine  the  teaching  there  to  things  that  the  children  need  to  know  in  order  to 


74 


make  a  success  in  life.  We  ought  n<>i  fco  have  them  taught  a  lot  of  things  that 
they  will  never  need  to  know,  that  they  will  forget  very  soon  after  leaving  school. 
We  ought  fco  teach  them  tilings  that  they  will  put  into  use  every  day  of  their 
lives. 

A  DELEGATE.  I  want  to  ask  Professor  Hamilton  whether  any  systematic  effort 
has  been  made  in  Pennsylvania  to  supply  the  common  schools  with  teachers  who 
can  teach  nature  study.  We  have  not  such  things  in  the  South  generally,  and 
we  need  to  have  teachers  educated  for  that  line  of  instruction.  Have  you  in 
Pennsylvania  any  general  plan  with  this  object  in  view? 

Mr.  HAMILTON.  We  have  normal  schools  which  are  supposed  to  be  preparing 
teachers  for  public-school  work.  Some  of  these  schools  are  doing  good  work  in 
the  way  of  teaching  wThat  are  known  as  modern  methods  of  instruction  in  nature 
study.  The  others  are  simply  teaching  botany  and  chemistry.  Some  of  the  older 
principals  of  the  normal  schools  suppose  that  they  are  teaching  things  that  the 
teachers  ought  to  know:  they  give  instruction  in  chemistry,  botany,  physiology, 
and  things  of  that  sort.  But  modern  nature  study  is  an  entirely  different  thing, 
and  but  a  few  are  making  effort  in  that  direction.  The  great  majority  have  done 
very  little.  We  have  been  trying  to  stir  up  the  normal-school  superintendents  to 
get  the  instructors  to  appreciate  the  value  of  these  new  methods,  and  I  hope  that 
in  the  near  future  those  schools  will  turn  out  plenty  of  teachers  thoroughly 
instructed  in  thes<-  lines. 

The  teachers  we  need  must  be  such  as  have  received  this  kind  of  instruction. 
We  know  what  we  want  and  we  will  not  have  anything  else.  And  it  can  not 
come  until  we  have  the  consolidation  of  which  I  have  spoken,  so  that  the  schools 
may  be  graded,  so  that  better  salaries  may  be  paid  to  the  country  teacher,  so 
that  teaching  in  the  country  may  be  made  a  desirable  occupation.  Whenever 
that  comes,  the  normal  schools  will  fit  teachers  for  this  work  which  they  are  to 
undertake. 

Mr.  True.  In  the  State  of  Missouri  the  teaching  of  agriculture  has  been  regu- 
larly introduced  into  the  three  normal  schools.  In  two  of  those  schools  graduates 
of  the  agricultural  colleges  are  the  teachers  of  agriculture.  In  the  other  school  a 
teacher  of  science  has  added  the  teaching  of  agriculture  to  his  other  duties.  But 
in  a  regular  way.  perhaps  in  a  more  thorough  way  than  in  any  other  State,  the 
teaching  of  agriculture  has  been  introduced  into  the  normal  schools  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Nall.  I  have  listened  with  much  pleasure  to  the  learned  address  of  my 
friend  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Hamilton),  and  I  am  sure  I  have  been  benefited 
very  greatly  by  it.  I  appreciated  especially  that  part  of  his  address  in  which  he 
advised  the  use  of  the  experiment-station  workers  in  farmers*  institutes.  Our 
agricultural  bureau,  under  which  the  institutes  are  conducted,  is  not  connected 
with  the  experiment  station  at  all.  and  for  this  reason  we  can  not  get  as  many 
institutes  as  some  of  the  other  States.  I  can  not  expect  to  get  the  assistance  of 
the  professors  from  the  college  and  the  experiment  station  if  institutes  are  to  be 
held  frequently,  because  their  services  are  not  to  be  had.  This  is  one  reason  why 
I  have  comparatively  few  institutes  and  have  used  the  means  at  my  command  in 
disseminating  agricultural  knowledge  in  my  bulletins. 

Another  point  is  in  regard  to  getting  more  advanced  speakers.  I  agree  that 
this  is  desirable,  but  there  is  a  point  at  which  we  must  stop — a  point  where 
practice  ends  and  mere  theory  begins.  This  is  an  important  consideration,  espe- 
cially in  carrying  on  the  work  in  new  territory.  It  is  possible  that  after  a  while 
we  may  find  it  feasible  to  take  more  advanced  and  more  theoretical  speakers. 

I  want  to  add  a  word  in  regard  to  agriculture  in  the  public  schools.  In  my 
State  no  effort  has  been  made  in  this  direction,  and.  in  fact,  it  is  difficult  to  say 
where  we  shall  begin.  Some  years  ago  I  attended  school  in  one  of  our  small  towns 
where  we  had  a  Yale  professor.     My  father  was  a  plain,  practical  merchant  and 


former.  In  our  Locality  there  were  ;i  great  many  schools,  and  often  there  was 
greal  competition  as  to  which  should  have  the  little"fellow  who  was  to  be  educated. 
h  bo  happened  thai  my  education  was  committed  to  the  Yale  professor,  and  he 
was  stuffing  me  with  Greet  and  Latin  at  an  age  too  early  for  me  to  absorb  such 
diet;  and  at  the  same  time  my  father  had  a  farmer  outside  and  was  sending  me 
there  in  order  thai  I  mighl  learn  to  plant  tobacco,  to  hoe  corn.  Thus  I  was  torn 
between  two  contending  tactions.  The  efforl  was  made  to  educate  me  in  these 
two  diverse  schools:  and  you  see  they  spoiled  me  completely.  The  application  which 
I  make  of  this  remark  is  that  it  mighl  be  besl  if  one  scholar  should  be  selected 
for  an  agricultural  education,  another  for  law,  and  another  for  medicine,  etc. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  1  wish  to  emphasize  a  point  made  by  Mr.  Hamilton  with  refer- 
ence to  the  advance  being  made  in  the  kind  of  instruction  that  we  are  to  give  in 
our  farmers' institutes.  In  our  State  we  have  had  this  difficulty:  After  having 
had  an  institute  three  or  four  times  in  a  given  locality  and  after-giving  the  people 
there  good  instruction  we  are  not  able  tp  take  there  the.  speakers  who  can 
deal  with  the  scientific  principles  involved  in  the  branch  of  agriculture  in  which 
the  people  there  are  engaged.  We  have  got  to  have  a  higher  made  of  men.  This 
is  a  question  which  all  of  the  institutes  in  all  the  States  have  got  to  meet  very 
soon.  We  have  got  to  have  a  higher  class  of  instructors — those  who  have  been 
trained  in  the  science  of  agriculture  and  are  able  to  show  to  the  farmers  the 
results  of  their  investigations  and  how  those  results  are  applied  in  practice.  We 
can  not  get  along,  in  our  State  at  least,  with  men  who  are  purely  '"  practical.' ' 
Those  men  are  all  right  for  the  beginning  of  the  work — to  get  the  people  inter- 
ested and  to  get  the  confidence  of  the  people  by  showing  that  they  know  something 
about  what  is  going  on  upon  the  farm.  But  after  a  while  we  have  got  to  get  on 
a  higher  plane.  Institute  workers  must  recognize  this  fact  and  prepare  to  meet 
the  exigency.  How  are  we  to  do  it?  It  seems  to  me  this  is  a  very  important 
problem — one  that  we  must  meet,  one  directly  connected  with  the  education  of  a 
class  of  farmers  who  can  not  be  reached  in  any  other  way.  I  rose  simply  to 
emphasize  this  point. 

Mr.  True.  I  want  to  supplement  what  has  just  been  said  by  Professor  Voorhees, 
though  it  broadens  our  field  of  discussion  a  little. 

As  I  have  been  over  the  United  States  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  I  have 
become  profoundly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  we  are  undertaking  to  do  this 
work  of  agricultural  education  an  1  research  with  entirely  too  few  well-trained 
men.  Gentlemen  talk  here  a  good  deal,  and  it  is  an  encouraging  thing,  about  the 
increasing  use  which  they  desire  to  make  of  agricultural  college  and  experiment 
station  workers.  But  the  fact  is  that  demands  upon  those  workers  for  services  of 
various  kinds  are  already  far  beyond  what  we  can  meet,  and  one  of  the  greatest 
difficulties  which  we  are  now  having  in  advancing  our  work  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation and  research  in  different  lines  is  that  we  have  not  men  to  do  the  work. 

We  are  are  overworking  our  men.  especially  our  best  men.  We  are  calling  upon 
them  for  too  many  kinds  of  service  and  too  much  service.  Occasionally  one  of 
them  drops  off  suddenly,  as  Professor  Goff  of  Wisconsin  did  the  other  day,  and 
we  can  attribute  the  loss  of  such  men.  in  middle  life.  I  think  very  largely  to  the 
fact  of  their  being  overworked.  Theyare  working  too  many  hours  and  too  many 
days  in  the  year. 

So  that,  in  discussing  this  problem  of  securing  better  trained  workers  for  the 
fanners'  institutes,  I  think  that  one  important  thing  is  to  consider  how  you  can 
increase  the  number  of  trained  workers,  how  you  can  supplement  the  work  of  the 
professors  in  the  agricultural  colleges  with  other  well-trained  men.  I  believe  that 
the  solution  of  this  problem  will  be  found  in  building  up  in  the  different  States 
corps  of  men  who  shall  devote  themselves  to  the  farmers'  institute  work  as  a 
specialty. 


7<; 

Mr.  LATTA.  I  want  to  present  what  is  to  OS  ill  our  State  a  very  practical  diffi- 
culty, right  along  the  lines  of  the  paper  of  Mr.  Hamilton.  1  heartily  indorse  that 
paper;  ami  I  want  to  stick  right  to  the  main  thought  of  the  paper.  We  are  not 
ready  for  those  trained  specialists,  even  if  we  had  them.  <  >ur  worker  to-day  par 
excellence  is  the  practical  man.  I  can  now  think  of  two  men.  one  of  whom  I  will 
call  a  practical  man.  who  has  never  had  any  college  training  and  yet  who  could 
discount  any  man  of  the  college  faculty,  any  man  of  the  experiment  station,  in 
clear  cnt,  definite,  acceptable  instruction  along  the  lines  of  definite  knowledge— a 
man  who  might  now  and  then  make  a  "boll '"  upon  scientific  matters,  hut  who  in 
the  main  is  able  to  give  (dear-cut.  concise,  acceptable  instruction  to  the  people. 

Now.  the  point  I  want  to  get  at  is  this:  How  shall  I  get  hold  of  these  practical 
men'.-  How  shall  I  get  them  to  see  this  problem  from  the  standpoint  of  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton and  from  my  standpoint  as  a  teacher  in  the  colleger  How  can  I  get  them  to 
gnize  what  1  believe  to  be  true,  that  the  highest  product  of  our  educational 
work  along  the  line  of  agriculture,  the  highest  good  that  we  can  do  for  agricul- 
ture, is  to  send  a  man  or  a  woman  out  from  an  agricultural  college  trained  to  be 
a  broader,  truer,  nobler  man  or  woman,  trained  along  the  line  of  the  techuique  of 
agriculture  so  as  to  take  hold  of  agricultural  questions  successfully  and  solve 
them  practically,  and  then  to  send  out  such  a  one  with  the  inspiration  to  devote 
his  or  her  life  and  soul  to  that  great  calling.  To  get  such  workers  is  my  funda- 
mental difficulty  to-day. 

Mr.   McKerrow  has  given  me  a  very  happy  suggestion  along  that  line.     He 
demands  of  his  men  that  they  shall  read  the  current  publications:  and  I  want  to 
bring  this  suggestion  back  to  that  point,  because  we  must  deal  with  that  cl 
men  at  present. 

I  started  out  to  tell  of  two  men  that  I  knew,  and  I  described  one  of  them.  The 
other  was  an  inimitable  instructor,  but  he  was  a  man  who  let  things  remain 
buried  within  himself.  He  was  a  bureau  of  information,  and  yet  he  seldom 
referred  to  anything  outside  of  himself.  There  was  a  great  defect  in  that  par- 
ticular man. 

Mr.  McKerrow.  I  want  to  say  a  word  for  the  men  win.  are  the  practical 
workers,  who  are  doing  nine-tenths  of  the  institute  work  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  to-day.  the  workers  in  the  field.  These  men  must  grow  better,  must  con- 
tinue to  rise,  must  have  their  services  more  and  more  in  demand. 

As  I  stated  before,  we  demand  of  our  workers  in  Wisconsin  that  they  shall  keep 
up  in  their  reading  with  the  experiment  stations  and  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. Quite  often,  when  I  am  impressed  with  the  fact  that  one  of  our  men  is 
a  little  lame  in  some  particular  respect,  when  he  makes  some  such  ■•bulls"'  as 
Professor  Latta  speaks  of — when  I  learn  of  some  experiment  along  his  line  which. 
if  studied  and  acted  upon  will  strengthen  him  in  his  work.  I  call  his  attention  to 
it:  if  I  meet  him  I  talk  with  him  about  it.  I  say  to  him.  "  Here  is  a  weak  spot." 
I  always  make  free  to  tell  my  workers  of  any  shortcoming  or  deficiency.  By  the 
way.  I  attend  all  the  meetings  I  can.  I  am  in  the  field  all  the  time  doing  work 
myself,  and  when  I  find  a  man  making  a  mistake,  or  a  man  who  is  not  posted  on 
a  particular  thing  which  he  ought  to  know.  I  talk  with  him  about  it  or  I  s^nd 
him  such  information  as  will  post  him. 

Not  only  d  i  1  demand  that  these  workers  shall  be  readers,  bnt  I  expect  them  to 
test  by  experiment  on  their  farms  the  information  which  has  been  sent  out  from 
the  experiment  station,  thus  ascertaining  the  results  of  such  experiments  under 
the  different  conditions  of  soil,  climate,  and  methods  of  farming,  thus  determin- 
ing how  far  such  work  is  applicable  within  the  lines  of  our  State.  And  so  we 
believe  that  our  practical  workers  are  being  educated  upward  as  the  audiences 
are  being  educated:  and  the  new  men  that  we  bring  in  must  D3  in  advance  of  the 
old  men  with  whom  we  started  seventeen  year-  ago.     We  bring  in  as  we  ean 


77 

agricultural  professors,  professors  of  live-stock  husbandry,  etc.,  and  have  them 

talk  at  our  round-up  meetings  wherever  we  can  secure  them,  and  our  beel  auditors 
are  our  institute  workers. 
We  have  in  our  State  a  Little  [rish  farmer.     When  we  first  brought  him  to  our 

fanners"  institute  he  was  known  a>  successful  on  dairy  lines  as  a  reader  and 
thinker  and  experimenter.  Pr  ►fessor  Benry  said  to  me  once  that  he  would  rather 
have  any  other  man  quiz  him  a  ft  ei-  the  lecture  than  this  little  Irishman.  "Thai 
man  knows  more  about  experimental  work  than  any  other  man  who  has  ever 
stood  up  on  the  floor  of  a  farmers'  institute  to  ask  a  question.  When  I  am  lec- 
turing,  if  I  make  a  little  slip,  this  little  fellow  is  sure  to  catch  me."'  Yet  he  is 
only  a  practical  farmer,  not  a  college  man.  I  am  not  disparaging  college  men 
for  institute  work.  1  mt  I  do  want  to  say  this  word  for  the  practical  man.  inas- 
much as  he  seems  to  be  in  the  minority  in  this  meeting. 

Mr.  Stockbridob.  I  believe  I  can  look  at  both  sides  of  this  question.  Notwith- 
standing the  apparently  very  great  difference  of  opinion  expressed  here,  it  seem3 
to  me  there  is  a  happy  medium  or  middle  ground  which  can  he  occupied  success- 
fully. It  so  happens  that  I  am  a  college  man;  my  personal  affiliations  are  very 
largely  with  college  and  station  men.  My  sympathies  would  naturally  be  with 
the  college  side  of  this  question.  Yet  I  have  had  a  pretty  extensive  experienci-  as 
an  institute  worker,  not  only  in  my  own  State,  but  in  a  number  of  others.  I  have 
personally  attended  every  institute  held  in  the  State  of  Florida:  and  I  want  to  say 
emphatically  and  positively,  although  I  am  a  college-trained  man  and  have  l>e<  n 
engaged  in  station  work  nearly  all  my  life,  that  so  far  as  making  up  my  institute 
corps  of  workers  is  concerned  I  will  not  have  a  college  man  or  station  man  on  my 
staff  unless  it  is  particularly  requested  by  people  in  the  locality  who  have  some 
problem  that  they  want  to  have  him  solve  for  them.  If  there  is  a  member  of  a 
college  staff  whose  presence  is  particularly  requested  by  any  locality,  his  pres- 
ence is  never  denied:  but  in  making  up  a  corps  of  institute  workers  who  shall  be 
effective  in  presenting  to  different  localities  subjects  which  shall  result  in  actual, 
practical  benefit.  I  never  of  my  own  volition  select  a  college  man.  Why? 
Because  my  personal  experience  has  taught  me  that  although  the  college  man, 
when  he  is  also  a  practical  man,  is  a  most  effective  speaker,  yet  the  fact  is.  too 
frequently,  that  he  shoots  above  the  heads  of  his  audience.  I  believe  that  the 
man  whose  experience  has  been  confined  exclusively  to  college  or  station  work  is 
a  very  exceptional  man  if  he  is  able  to  make  himself  practically  useful  in  the 
different  localities. 

But  practical  experience  has  brought  me  to  the  conclusion  already  stated,  that 
on  this  question  there  is  a  medium  ground  which  can  be  occupied  with  success. 
It  so  happens  that  in  Florida  there  are  a  very  large  number  of  practical  men  whose 
bread  and  butter  depends  upon  the  success  of  their  farming  operations;  they  are 
men  who  have  no  other  business  than  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  but  at  the  same 
time  they  are  college-bred  and  college-trained  men.  It  is  possible  that  the  per- 
centage or  proportion  of  this  class  of  men  in  Florida  who  are  devoted  practically 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  larger  than  in  any  other  State,  because  it  is  a  fact 
that  certain  lines  of  agriculture,  such  as  the  raising  of  oranges  and  other  fruit. 
has  been  very  attractive  to  that  class  of  men.  Therefore  on  my  regular  corps  I 
have  graduates  of  perhaps  a  dozen  first-class  institutions  in  the  great  States,  but 
whose  present  business  is  confined  entirely  to  the  production  of  crops  for  the 
profit  they  may  make  out  of  them.  They  are  the  kind  of  men  who  make  our  best 
institute  workers,  men  who  have  had  scientific  training,  who  are  well  grounded  in 
the  fundamental  principles  of  successful  agriculture,  but  who  in  addition  have 
had  actual  experience  in  the  field,  and  can  go  before  an  audience  of  farmers  and 
say:  "I  have  done  this;  I  have  been  there."'  They  are  the  men  who  make  prac- 
tical institute  workers;  they  are  the  men  I  choose.  From  my  point  of  view  they 
form  the  middle  ground  which  can  be  occupied  most  effectively. 


THE  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  AS  A  PROMOTER  OF  A  CLOSER  INTI- 
MACY BETWEEN  FARMERS  AND  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 

The  discussion  of  this  subject  was  opened  by  E.  B.  Voorhees.  of  New  Jer- 
Mr.  Voorhees.  I  labor  under  the  disadvantage  of  not  haying  prepared  any- 
thing special  on  this  line,  as  I  rather  expected  to  base  my  remarks  upon  what 
might  be  said  by  Mr.  Dawley.    Nevertheless  T  have  a  few  thoughts  in  connection 

with  this  work  which  I  hope  will  invite  suggestions  from  the  audience. 
The  question  implies  that  there  should  be  a  closer  intimacy  between  the  farmers 

and  the  experiment  stations,  and  I  think  that  all  of  us  who  are  engaged  in  insti- 
tute work,  those  of  ns  who  are  engaged  in  experiment  station  work,  realize  this 
i>  a  very  important  thing.  There  is  a  feeling  abroad  on  the  part  of  some  that  the 
experiment  station  is  solely  to  do  work  of  an  investigational  character:  that  its 
work  is  pure  science.  But  it  is  a  question  with  some  of  us  whether  that  sort  of 
work  is  the  best  that  can  be  done  so  long  as  there  is  a  large  body  of  worker-  in 
the  field  who  can  not  benefit  by  the  facts  of  science  that  are  already  known.  So 
that  the  experiment  station  must  be  in  part  an  educational  factor. 

The  experiment  station,  before  it  can  do  its  hest  work  as  an  investigating  insti- 
tution, must  have  the  farmers  acquainted  with,  at  any  rate,  the  facts  of  science 
that  are  already  known.  Now.  unless  the  experiment  station  has  an  audience 
that  has  a  familiarity  with  the  principles  of  science  that  have  been  already  ascer- 
tained, then  the  work  of  adding  to  the  facts  we  already  have  can  be  of  practically 
no  use  to  the  farmer. 

In  the  work  of  the  experiment  station,  then,  we  must  have  cooperation  and 
intimacy  between  the  man  who  works  and  the  man  who  puts  that  work  into 
practice.  In  order  to  have  this  we  must  have,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  part  of 
the  farmer  confidence  in  the  man  who  does  the  work.  The  thought  has  been 
expressed  here  again  and  again  that  the  man  to  teach  the  farmer  must  l>e  prac- 
tical. Now,  I  can  not  see  any  reason  why  a  scientific  man  can  not  be  practical. 
I  can  not  see  any  reason  why  the  professor  of  agriculture-  can  not  run  a  farm  and 
run  it  successfully,  and  I  can  not  see  that  the  professor  of  agriculture  is  a  good 
professor  of  agriculture  unless  he  can  d<  i  this.  I  believe  we  can  not  get  the  neces- 
sary intimacy  with  the  farmers  of  the  State  and  we  can  not  do  the  work  we 
ought  to  do  in  building  up  the  agriculture  of  the  State  until  we  have  the  farmers 
believe  in  us  as  practical  men  as  well  as  scientific  men. 

Now,  how  are  we  going  to  do  that'.-  How  are  we  going  to  make  the  fanner 
understand  that  we  are  there  to  help  him  every  day:  to  help  him  raise  potat  - 
a  lower  cost  per  bushel:  to  produce  milk  at  a  lower  price  per  quart;  to  raise 
fruit  at  a  lower  price  per  basket?  On  such  questions  as  the>e  we  have  got  to 
instruct  him  so  confidently,  we  have  got  to  show  him  so  effectually,  that  we 
know  what  we  are  talking  about  that  he  will  take  the  facts  we  give  him  and  put 
them  into  practice. 

This  has  been  the  custom  as  we  all  know,  in  the  experiment  station  work  and 
the  institute  work.  As  s.  m  >n  as  y»  >u  get  the  farmer  to  believe  in  you  he  will  accept 
the  instruction  you  give  him  and  put  it  into  practice. 

How  do  we  do  this?  I  do  not  suppose  our  method  is  better  than  that  of  others: 
but  I  do  believe  we  have  had  an  opportunity  for  getting  at  the  farmer  a  little 
more  completely  than  in  oth  r  States.  We  are  a  small  State— a  State  not  now 
engaged  so  much  in  general  fanning  as  in  special  farming— so  that  we  can  come 
in  contact  with  the  farmer  in  his  special  work.  For  example,  we  want  to  have 
the  farmers  see  in  the  matter  of  fertilisers  that  what  we  tell  them  is  true  with 
regard  to  their  special  crops.  We  go  into  a  district  and  select  a  farmer  who  is 
intelligent,  who  has  followed  us  in  our  work,  and  we  say:  "  You  are  conducting 
your  experiments  to  test  the  effect  of  commercial  fertilizers  upon  sweet  potatoes 


7(.> 

as  compared  with  the  effects  of  barnyard  manure."  We  will  assist  him  in 
planning  the  work,  and  when  the  crop  La  harvested  we  will  invite  the  farmers  of 
the  neighborhood  to  see  the  results,  and  then,  when  there  is  a  farmers'  institute 
in  that  neighborhood  we  will  ash  the  farmer  who  conducted  the  experiments  to 
go  into  the  meeting  and  tell  what  the  station  did  in  assisting  him  in  his  work. 
The  farmer  will  Bay, perhaps:  •'The  resull  has  been  just  what  the  experiment 
station  men  said  it  would  be;  he  is  a  practical  man."  Thus,  where  the  fanners 
did  not  have  confidence  in  the  prof essor  they  have  confidence  in  the  farmer,  and 
;:s  a  result  the  whole  audience  is  inspired  with  confidence  in  the  institution  which 
has  sent  the  pr  >fessor  out. 

I  believe  a  farm  is  a  very  valuable  adjunct  to  the  experiment  station  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  about  a  closer  intimacy  with  the  farmer  and  getting  his  con- 
fidence, [f  we  are  going  to  get  hold  of  the  farmer  we  must  farm  under  similar 
conditions  to  his;  we  must  show  him  that  he  can  do  the  thing  quite  as  success- 
fully as  we  can,  and  perhaps  more  so. 

In  our  work  during  the  past  six  or  eight  years  we  have  had  a  farm,  divided  up 
into  plats  of  an  acre  or  two  or  three  acres.  The  farmers  see  the  crops  and  they 
ask:  "How  much  did  that  cost?  What  fertilizers  did  you  use'.-'  How  much  do 
you  get  for  the  crop?'"  We  invite  them  to  come  and  make  their  observations. 
They  come  in  crowds.  We  invite  organizations  to  come  and  spend  the  whole  day 
going  over  the  farm  and  seeing  how  everything  is  done  in  a  practical  way.  Then 
they  go  back  to  their  homes  and  say:  "'That  is  a  business  we  can  do;  it  is  not  a 
thing  beyond  us.'"  The  science  involved  in  our  operations  is  not  so  overwhelm- 
ing as  to  prevent  ordinary  men  from  putting  it  in  practice. 

So  I  say  if  we  are  going  to  establish  an  intimacy  between  the  station  and  the 
farmer  we  must  inspire  the  farmer  with  confidence  in  us:  and  if  we  have  a  farm, 
let  us  work  it  in  a  practical  way  so  that  the  farmer  can  realize  that  he  can  do 
what  we  have  done.  Have  your  plats  large  enough  to  carry  on  the  different 
operations  in  the  same  way  in  which  a  farmer  is  carrying  them  on:  let  each  plat 
be  an  acre  or  two  acres  or  five  acres:  thus  the  farmers  will  see  that  there  is  no 
"  gold  leaf  "  about  the  operation  to  prevent  their  doing  what  we  do.  If  we  want 
to  teach  them  dairy  operations  let  them  see  that  our  cows  are  every-day  cows  such 
as  they  have  on  their  own  farms;  let  us  have  the  record  to  show  the  cost  of  the 
keep  and  the  value  of  the  yield.  In  this  way  the  farmers  will  come  to  believe  we 
know  what  we  are  doing. 

If  the  experiment  station  is  going  to  advance  rapidly  along  that  line  it  must  be 
educational  in  its  character  as  well  as  investigational,  and  the  educational  work 
will  come  along  the  line  of  inspiring  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  farmers  that 
the  experiment  station  men,  the  men  doing  the  scientific  work,  are  doing  it  in  a 
way  that  will  result  in  giving  them  some  practical  lessons  that  they  can  take 
home  and  put  into  practice.  I  believe  that  along  this  line  we  are  to  increase  the 
intimacy  between  the  farmers  and  the  experiment  station. 

Another  matter;  perhaps  one  reason  why  the  experiment  station  workers  are 
accused  of  being  too  scientific  and  speaking  over  the  heads  of  their  audiences,  is 
because  they  have  not  in  all  cases  a  farm  on  which  to  do  their  work  and 
they  have  not  the  opportunity  to  do  practical  work.  I  think  if  we  provide  the 
station  with  a  farm  it  will  be  a  great  gain. 

But  there  is  one  other  thing  we  must  remember.  We  must  take  to  the  farmers 
what  they  need,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  man  who  studies  the  question  in  an 
experiment  station  or  college  is  better  able  to  determine  what  the  farmer  needs 
than  the  farmer  himself.  Many  farmers  would  prefer  to  be  told  what  they  want 
to  hear  rather  than  what  they  need  to  do.  They  will  be  ready  to  hear  the  experi- 
ment station  official  when  they  understand,  that  he  is  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  practical  as  well  as  the  scientific  side  of  fanning,  and  when  they  find  that  he 


80 

can  Bhow  them  results  which  can  guide  their  own  practice  so  as  to  enlarge  their 
income  on  their  investment  of  energy  and  money. 

It  is  along  these  lino  that  we  are  going  to  develop  an  intimacy  which  will 
result  not  only  in  building  np  the  farmer  himself,  but  also  in  elevating  the  char- 
act.  Tof  tin-  work  that  the  experiment  station  can  do.  We  can  gradually  cut 
away  from  the  necessity  of  doing  "practical  "■  work  as  soon  as  we  have  the  con- 
fidence of  the  farmer  that  we  know  how  to  do  his  line  of  work  successfully,  and 
n  as  we  have  educated  him  to  see  the  greater  necessity  of  studying  the  fun- 
damental principles  which  underlie  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged. 

Mr.  Webb.  Delaware  being  a  small  State  and  not  having  as  large  an  experi- 
ment station  as  perhaps  other  States,  we  have  a  pretty  close  intimacy  between 
many  of  the  farmers  and  the  experiment  station  workers.  The  latter  go  out  to 
the  farmers  and  show  them  just  how  to  do  their  work  by  conducting  experiments — 
of  course  not  on  every  f arm .  but  on  selected  farms  of  selected  farmers — and  the 
farmers  go  to  the  institute  and  tell  what  they  have  done  under  the  direction  of 
the  experiment  station.  Another  man  stands  up  and  tells  that  the  experiment 
station  has  told  him  how  to  save  a  crop  of  apples  worth  $10  per  tree  in  a  single 
year.  In  another  actual  case  a  member  of  our  State  staff  called  on  a  farmer,  a 
very  practical  farmer,  and  told  him  that  he  was  losing  money  on  a  certain  crop. 
and  proved  it  to  him  by  the  actual  figures,  and  then  he  told  him  how  by  a 
little  change  he  could  make  money  on  that  crop.  The  farmer  became  convinced, 
and  he  now  says  that  that  man  is  the  best  experiment  station  worker  in  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Hostetter.  The  fact  stated  here  by  so  many  to-day,  that  there  is  a  demand 
for  fanners' institutes,  for  scientific  instruction  and  scientific  speakers,  is,  it  seems 
to  me.  one  of  the  strongest  possible  evidences  of  the  good  the  institutes  are 
doing.  We  are  creating  a  demand  for  something,  and  as  we  go  on  creating  the 
demand  there  will  be  a  corresponding  supply  to  meet  that  demand. 

This  whole  subject  of  experimentation  and  of  agricultural  education  is  new, 
very  new;  and  the  demand  for  these  scientific  workers,  for  men  of  scientific  infor- 
mation, is  from  the  colleges.  Before  the  institutes  can  be  supplied  the  colleges 
must  be  supplied:  and  as  they  become  supplied,  and  as  they  begin  to  send  out 
graduates,  this  demand  which  has  been  expressed  here  to-day  for  scientific  work- 
ers will  be  met. 

I  do  not  feel  discouraged  at  all  by  the  outlook.  I  think  that  the  very  fact  that 
there  is  a  demand  for  scientific  workers  is  most  encouraging.  I  can  remember 
that  in  Illinois  a  few  years  ago  to  place  the  name  of  a  university  man  on  your 
farmers*  institute  programme  meant  that  you  would  have  an  empty  house.  Now 
that  condition  is  entirely  changed.  Our  institute  people  can  not  get  as  many  col- 
lege men  as  they  would  like  to  have .  The  demand  upon  our  agricultural  college  for 
speakers  is  greater  than  they  can  supply,  and  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
experiment  station  men  and  our  practical  farmers  have  rubbed  up  against  each 
other  in  our  institute  meetings,  and  the  result  has  been  beneficial  to  both.  The 
farmer  is  becoming  more  scientific  and  the  experiment  station  man  is  becoming 
more  practical.  As  these  two  classes  come  closer  together  we  shall  get  letter 
results. 

We  know  that  there  are  different  kinds  of  experiments  and  that  there  are  dif- 
ferent ways  of  experimenting.  When  the  experimenter  comes  in  c<  intact  with  the 
practical  farmer  and  finds  out  what  the  practical  fanner  needs,  and  canies  on  his 
experiments  in  the  line  of  the  needs  of  the  farmer,  then  yon  are  establishing  a 
closer  intimacy  between  the  experiment  station  and  the  farmer  and  are  working 
out  good  results. 

In  Illinois  we  are  trying  to  build  up  a  closer  intimacy  between  the  agricultural 
college  and  the  experiment  station  and  the  institute.     In  other  words,  we  are  doing 


81 

largely  cooperative  work.  The  institute  a->  as  organization  is  standing  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  the  experiment  Btation  and  the  college.  The  work  is  being  dis- 
tributed over  the  State  in  different  localities  apon  different  farms.  The  work  is. 
partly  at  least,  under  the  observation  of   those  connected   with   the  farmers' 

institute 

We  are  carrying  on  now  in  the  state  of  Illinois  a  series  of  soil  experiments,  for 
which  the  State  made  an  appropriation  of  ski. nnn.  That  work  has  been  done 
under  the  director  of  the  experiment  station  and  a  committee  of  five  of  the  fann- 
ers" institute.  Thus,  by  working  hand  in  hand,  we  are  increasing  the  intimacy 
that  we  desire  and  increasing  the  good  of  the  two  organizations.  From  what  has 
been  said  here,  I  think  that  the  institute  workers  should  feel  very  much  encouraged 
in  regard  to  the  development  of  farm  work  along  scientific  lines. 

Mr.  TlNDALL.  In  our  State  we  have  been  peculiarly  situated,  and  our  circum- 
stances suggest  that  we  act  upon  the  principle  that  education  flows  from  above 
downward,  like  the  rain  from  heaven.  In  order  to  gel  the  farmers  interested,  we 
brought  them  out.  as  I  have  already  explained,  to  the  college,  where  they  could 
be  boarded  for  50  cents  a  week.  Our  farmers  have  now  become  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  result  of  the  experiment  stations.  In  consequence  of  the  interest  thus 
excited,  application  was  made  to  the  legislature  last  winter  for  an  appropriation 
of  $1."),000  to  carry  on  experiments,  which  was  granted. 

Through  these  people  scattered  throughout  the  State  we  expect  to  get  good 
results.  I  think  that  already  there  has  been  brought  about  intimacy  between  our 
station  and  the  farmers  generally  which  has  been  most  fortunate  for  the  college, 
the  station,  and  the  people  at  large. 

Mr.  True.  It  seems  to  me  that  our  discussion  this  morning  has  taken  a  very 
happy  turn,  because  it  has  brought  out  the  different  sides  of  this  matter  and  has 
shown.  I  think,  that  there  is  very  substantial  agreement  as  to  principles  and  even 
as  to  the  methods  of  work:  for  when  we  have  our  friend  from  Wisconsin  (Mr. 
McKerrow)  setting  forth  as  clearly  as  he  did  how.  by  means  of  the  farmers'  insti- 
tutes, he  is  making  specialists  out  of  practical  men  by  bringing  them  in  contact 
with  experiment  station  literature  and  experiment  station  workers:  and  when  we 
have,  on  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Voorhees.  of  New  Jersey,  setting  forth  how  he  is 
making  experiment  station  scientists  into  practical  men.  so  that  they  can  better 
appreciate  the  problems  of  the  farmer,  we  are  certainly  getting  the  two  classes  of 
workers  in  this  great  field  very  close  together,  and  we  are  evidently  getting  the 
managers  of  these  institutes  into  a  unanimous  frame  of  mind  with  reference  to 
what  ought  to  be  done. 

One  thing  I  want  to  urge  while  on  my  feet  is  that  we  should  look  at  this  ques- 
tion broadly  and  should  try  to  look  at  it  correctly,  so  that  there  may  not  be  what 
apparently  is  sometimes  the  fact — an  opposition  between  science  and  practice. 
That  is  a  false  opposition.  True  science  and  true  practice  go  hand  in  hand,  and 
they  should  never  be  divorced.  They  are  joined  in  indissoluble  wedlock,  and 
they  should  remain  that  way  forever. 

As  regards  the  work  of  the  experiment  station  with  reference  to  the  farmers' 
institute.  I  agree  very  thoroughly  with  what  Dr.  Voorhees  said.  He  made  only 
one  remark  that  I  should  be  inclined  to  dissent  from.  He  said — I  do  not  think  he 
fully  realized  what  he  was  saying  at  the  time — lam  not  quoting  his  exact  lan- 
guage, but  his  thought  as  I  got  it  was  that  the  time  might  come  when  the  experi- 
ment stations  would  advance  the  grade  of  their  work  and  get  away  from  the 
grade  of  the  practical  work.  I  do  not  believe  that  time  will  ever  come.  The 
more  and  the  better  scientific  work  the  experiment  stations  do  the  more  reason 
there  will  be  for  their  doing  practical  work,  the  more  reason  for  working  out  the 
problems  on  which  they  are  engaged  in  the  most  thorough  way.  so  that  we  shall 

9953— No.  120—02 6 


82 

know  not  only  the  scientific  principles  hut  how  the  results  can  be  applied  in 
practice. 

I  am  always  pleased  when  I  hear  Dr.  Voorhees  speak  on  this  subject,  because  I 
know  that  if  you  go  to  New  Jersey  and  examine  into  the  workings  of  the  New 
Jersey  station  you  will  find,  behind  the  practical  work  that  Dr.  Voorhees  and 
( itfaer  workers  there  are  doing  on  the  station  farm,  a  large  and  substantial  amount 
of  thoroughly  scientific  work.  And  I  believe  that  if  they  were  not  doing  that 
scientific  work  as  thoroughly  as  they  are,  they  would  not  get  the  practical  results 
which  they  are  getting  on  their  farm. 

What  I  wrant  to  urge  is  that  we  must  keep  the  two  things,  science  and  practice. 
always  joined  together  in  our  minds;  and  when  we  talk  about  the  experiment  sta- 
tions doing  practical  work,  we  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  station  can  not  do  the 
1  >•  st  practical  work  unless  it  is  also  doing  the  most  thorough  kind  of  scientific  work. 

Mr.  Kilgork,  of  North  Carolina.  I  will  say  what  time  permits  on  this  subject 
of  the  relation  of  the  farmers'  institute  to  station  work.  I  commenced  station 
work  with  the  birth  of  the  station  in  our  State  (North  Carolina).  I  have  done 
considerable  farmers'  institute  work.  I  know  that  my  station  work  has  greatly 
helped  me  in  my  institute  work,  and  I  am  equally  positive  that  the  institute  work 
has  influenced  very  materially  my  views  and  ideas  of  experiment  work. 

There  is  the  closest  relation  between  the  two  classes  of  work,  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  idea  should  to  any  extent  prevail  that  there  is  a  disagreement  or  that  the 
station  man  is  in  any  way  disqualified  for  institute  work,  or  that  there  is  any  diffi- 
culty in  a  well-equipped  institute  worker  doing  experimental  work.  I  have  a 
special  example  in  mind,  and  it  is  this  more  particularly  that  I  want  to  refer  to. 
Three  years  ago  we  held  in  a  particular  county  of  our  State  a  farmers'  institute. 
Since  that  time  we  have  been  asked  three  times  to  go  back  to  that  county.  The 
farmers  there  were  greatly  interested,  and  it  is  one  of  the  best  farming  sections 
in  our  State.  As  a  result  of  the  institute  meetings  held  at  that  place,  I  have 
obtained  ideas  or  notions  prevailing  there  in  reference  to  agricultural  questions 
that  [I  did  not  have  a  proper  conception  of  before.  For  instance,  in  the  coastal 
plain  section  of  our  State — the  pine-woods  section — it  is  very  common  for  our 
farmers  to  use  tremendous  quantities  of  fertilizers.  They  have  the  idea,  which 
is  contrary  to  the  general  belief  regarding  soils  of  that  class,  that  they  do  not 
need  phosphoric  acid  for  their  crops;  that  it  does  not  benefit  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  say  that  potash  is  the  main  constituent  that  gives  to  their  crops 
increased  growth.  This  was  a  strange  proposition  to  an  experiment  station 
worker,  and  one  with  which  I  could  not  readily  agree.  At  the  first  meeting,  how- 
ever, I  said  to  them: 

"  I  will  not  put  any  theoretical  considerations  in  the  way  of  your  practice.  If 
you  have  found  that  to  be  true,  I  will  not  say  that  the  experiment  station  has 
demonstrated  that  you  are  wrong.  There  can  be  no  real  disagreement  between 
science  and  practice;  their  results  must  be  identical.  If  what  you  say  has  been 
found  true  in  practice,  then  it  is  truly  scientific." 

As  a  result,  however,  of  finding  this  seemingly  unusual  idea  prevailing  there, 
we  began  experimental  work  upon  that  particular  type  of  soil,  which  represents 
something  like  40  per  cent  of  the  area  of  our  State  and  upon  which  some  S4. 000. 000 
in  value  of  commercial  fertilizers  are  used  annually.  Since  that  time  we  have 
been  conducting  experiments  in  that  locality  just  as  we  would  do  at  the  experi- 
ment station.  In  fact,  our  work  there  is  strictly  experimental  work,  with  a  col- 
lege graduate  in  charge  of  it,  and  the  work  is  planned  carefully  by  an  experiment 
station  worker.  We  have  been  carrying  on  that  work  now  for  three  years.  The 
farmers  have  gone  there  and  looked  at  that  work.  They  are  becoming  more 
and  more  interested  in  it.  and  we  are  getting  results  now  that  are  modifying  the 
views  of  those  farmers. 

It  was  this  suggestion  that  we  obtained  in  farmers*  institute  work  that  led  us 


83 

as  experiment  station  workers  to  make  these  experiments.  I  believe  thai  this 
kind  of  thing  is  practical,  and  I  believe,  in  fad  I  know,  thai  the  results  as  they 
con  if  out  thereafter  ;i  sufflcienl  number  of  experiments,  are  going  to  be  exploited 
by  those  fanners.     You  see  thai  in  my  institute  work  I  gol  ideas  thai  I  could  not 

have  gotten  without  contact  with  those  fanners.  and  I  believe  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  for  the  station  worker,  at  least  for  certain  station  workers,  to  come 
in  contact  with  the  farmers  in  different  sections. 

hi  the  sami'  way  we  h;ive  been  led  to  extend  our  experimental  work  under  the 
joint  operations  of  the  State  department  of  agriculture  and  of  the  experiment  sta- 
tion. The  station  is  spending  its  funds  in  connection  with  the  college;  the  depart- 
ment of  agriculture  is  supplementing  that  work,  as  Mr.  Hamilton  has  explained 
that  he  is  doing  in  connection  with  the  work  at  his  station. 

The  department  of  agriculture  is  conducting  these  branch  stations  in  different 
sections  of  the  State,  working  upon  the  particular  types  of  soil  that  we  have.  A 
soil  survey  of  the  State  is  being  conducted  by  the  department  of  agriculture  of 
our  State  and  by  the  Bureau  of  Soils  connected  with  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture. 

We  have  an  experimental  farm  on  this  sandy  or  coastal  plain  soil.  We  are  con- 
ducting experiments  on  the  crops  grown  in  that  section — cotton,  corn,  peanuts, 
etc.  We  are  studying  the  problems  that  the  farmers  in  that  section  bring  to  our 
attention.  Then  when  we  come  to  the  red-clay  soils,  which  we  think  are  adapted 
to  different  crops  and  should  have  different  fertilizers,  we  do  upon  that  type  of 
soil  similar  experimental  work,  suited  to  the  special  needs  of  that  section. 

The  suggestion  of  this  kind  of  work  came  to  us  largely  because  of  the  union  of 
the  station  and  the  farmers'  institute  work:  and  while  I  understand  thoroughly 
and  appreciate  fully  the  views  which  have  been  expressed  here  this  morning  by 
various  workers,  yet  I  have  never  seen  and  can  not  now  see  why  a  scientific  worker, 
an  experiment  station  worker.. should  not  be  (provided  he  understands  the  prac- 
tical conditions)  the  very  best  kind  of  farmers'  institute  worker.  I  believe  that 
to  be  so;  and  while  we  may  get  along  a  little  while  by  general  talk  to  the  farmers, 
yet  there  is  coming  a  time  when  they  will  want  to  pin  you  down  to  something 
more  definite,  will  want  to  know  your  reason  for  this  or  that,  will  want  to  know 
how  you  obtain  your  information,  when  they  will  ply  you  with  questions  as  the 
little  Irishman  spoken  of  this  evening  plied  Professor  Henry.  For  this  reason  you 
must  have  as  your  institute  workers  either  men  who  do  experimental  work  or  nun 
who  keep  in  closest  touch  with  that  work. 

I  believe  also  that  the  experiment  station  worker  should  be  given  all  the  time 
that  can  possibly  be  given  to  him  for  his  experiments,  and  that  he  should  not  be 
forced  to  make  long  tours  on  farmers'  institute  work,  thereby  consuming  his  time 
and  sapping  his  energy  and  compelling  him  to  neglect  his  experimental  work. 

Further,  we  should  have  clearly  in  mind  that  investigation  and  research  are  the 
basis  of  every  step  of  progress  that  is  made  in  agriculture.  Progress  must  come 
as  the  result  of  finding  new  truths,  whether  by  the  farmer  in  conducting  experi- 
ments in  his  own  way  or  by  the  experiment  station  worker.  We  can  not  make 
one  step  of  progress  without  finding  something  new  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of 
a  crop  or  the  cultivation  of  a  soil  or  the  handling  or  feeding  of  an  animal.  I  feel 
that  we  can  not  as  station  workers  and  as  farmers'  institute  workers  speak  too 
strongly  in  regard  to  agricultural  investigation  and  the  amount  of  it  that  should 
be  done;  for  it  is  certainly  the  basis  of  every  step  of  progress  we  have  ever  made 
or  can  ever  make  in  the  future. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  I  wish  to  correct  any  false  impression  I  may  have  made  when  I 
was  speaking  of  the  necessity  for  practical  work  in  order  to  gain  the  confidence  of 
the  farmers.  I  did  not  mean  that  we  as  institute  workers  <  >r  as  experiment  station 
men  art1  to  abandon  the  practical  work,  but  I  meant  that  better  practical  work 
would  come  as  the  result  of  better  scientific  work. 


84 
TEACHING  AGRICULTURE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

Prof.  C.  C.  James,  of  the  Ontario  Department  of  Agriculture.  Toronto.  Canada. 
spoke  as  follows  on  this  subject: 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  to  bring  a  subject  of  this  kind  before  a  convention  like 
this  was  almost  like  ••carrying  coals  t  >  Newcastle."'  However,  having  given  a 
promise  some  time  ago  to  bring  this  subject  before  you.  I  am  here  to-night  to  ful- 
fill that  promise. 

My  subject  to-night  is  agriculture  in  our  public  schools.  We  have  seen  a  great 
many  developments  in  our  comparatively  short  careers,  and.  just  on  the  threshold 
of  a  new  century.  I  venture  this  prediction  (none  of  you  will  be  here  at  the  end  of 
th«'  century  to  gainsay  it),  that  the  agricultural  development  of  the  present  cen- 
tury will  far  outweigh  all  other  developments. 

Although  agriculture  is  the  oldest  of  our  industries,  yet  it  has  perhaps  been  the 
last  of  all  to  receive  that  great  impetus  which  has  been  found  so  important  in 
connection  with  other  industries  arising  out  of  the  application  of  practical  science. 
It  is  only  fifteen  years  since  I  began  institute  wTork  in  the  province  to  the  north  of 
us:  and  if  any  one  at  that  time  had  said  that  within  fifteen  years  I  would  have 
the  privilege  of  attending  a  meeting  where  the  representatives  of  the  American 
States  would  be  gathered  to  discuss  methods  and  plans  for  carrying  on  the  work. 
as  you  are  doing  here,  I  think  perhaps  I  should  have  thought  that  agriculture  was 
on  the  eve  of  a  very  great  development. 

We  have  in  our  province,  as  you  have  in  your  various  States,  large  numbers  of 
organizations  looking  after  the  various  special  interests  of  the  farmer.  We  have 
our  agricultural  college.  We  have  had  for  some  twenty  years  a  pretty  vigorous 
system  of  farmers'  institute  work.  That  has  been  developing:  and  to  our  regular 
system  of  farmers'  institute  work  we  have  added  the  women's  institutes,  which 
some  of  you  are  also  developing. 

The  point  which  I  want  to  come  to  right  here  is  one  which  was  touched  upon 
this  morning.  We  have  these  organizations  for  specialists.  We  have  our  agri- 
cultural colleges  for  the  education  of  a  few  special  students:  and  we  have  our 
farmers'  institutes  and  women's  institutes  for  the  matured  men  and  women:  yet 
all  this  time  we  have,  to  a  large  extent,  been  overlooking  or  neglecting  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  who  are  growing  up — the  young  people,  the  boys  and  the  girls. 
What  would  we  think  of  a  system  of  education  in  the  medical  profession,  for 
instance,  in  which  we  should  say  to  the  young  men.  "  You  are  free  to  go  into  the 
practice  of  medicine,  to  cure  diseases,  to  set  limbs,  if  you  can;  and  after  you  have 
reached  years  of  maturity,  then  we  will  gather  you  together  into  medical  insti- 
tutes; then  we  will  begin  to  discuss  ways  and  means  for  the  improvement  of  your 
profession?''  If  we  should  do  anything  like  this  in  our  medical  schools  or  our 
schools  for  ministers,  we  should  be  set  down  at  once  as  entirely  irrational  in  our 
educational  methods.  Yet  that  is  the  position  we  have  been  taking  until  lately  in 
regard  to  the  education  of  the  great  agricultural  community.  We  have  said  to 
the  farmers.  "  Wait  until  you  have  learned  a  good  deal  by  hard,  practical  expe- 
rience; wait  until  you  have  become  men  and  women,  and  then  we  will  begin  the 
farmers'  institute  so  as  to  give  you  the  benefit  of  the  application  of  science  to 
your  line  of  business.'* 

If  the  leaving  of  work  of  this  kind  until  years  of  maturity  would  be  considered 
irrational  in  the  case  of  our  professional  men.  why  should  not  a  similar  proceed- 
ing be  considered  irrational  in  the  case  of  the  agriculturists?  Are  we  to  go  on 
along  these  same  lines,  waiting  until  the  men  and  the  women  shall  become 
matured  before  we  take  to  them,  so  to  speak,  this  new  gospel  of  agriculture:  or 
rather,  are  we  to  begin  at  the  foundation,  as  would  a  great  architect,  laying  a 
firm.  true,  substantial  foundation  upon  which  these  organizations,  the  agricultural 
colleges  and  the  farmers'  institutes,  may  erect  the  proper  superstructure? 


J 


1 


In  discussing  this  subject,  three  lines  of  thought  soggesi  themselves  to  me: 
First,  the  objections  that  will  be  offered,  largely  by  the  teaching  profession; 
second,  the  difficulties  that  the  teachers  will  meet  in  connection  with  this  work; 
and  third,  the  advantages  or  the  benefits  thai  will  result  from  the  more  thorough 
training  of  our  boys  and  girls  in  the  simple  principles  or  rudiments  of  agricul- 
tural science. 

The  first  objection  is  one  that  yon  have  all  met.  It  is  one  that  I  have  met  very 
frequently.  It  is  one  which  T  suppose  we  shall  continue  t<>  inert  until  this  whole 
question  has  been  worked  out  satisfactorily  and  fully.  One  form  of  stating  the 
objection  is  this:  "Practical  agriculture  can  not  be  taught  in  our  schools:  we 
can  not  in  OUT  rural,  or  town,  or  city  schools  teach  the  boys  how  to  plow  the  land, 
how  to  raise  crops,  how  to  care  for  stock,  how  to  carry  on  the  thousand  and  one 
operations  that  are  intimately  associated  with  farm  work." 

Perhaps  one  of  the  best  answers  that  could  be  given  to  this  objection  might  be 
this:  That  in  our  agricultural  colleges  we  do  not  undertake  or  prof  ess  to  teach 
farming  as  such.  The  agricultural  college  was  not  established  for  that  purpos  >; 
and  I  venture  to  say  that  any  agricultural  college  in  the  United  States  that  is 
trying  to  make  farmers  as  such— practical  farmers — is  not  succeeding  very  well, 
for  the  simpjlc  reason  that  there  is  only  one  place  where  the  practice  of  agricul- 
ture can  be  properly  and  successfully  taught — that  place  is  the  farm.  We  can, 
however,  and  we  do,  take  the  young  man  who  knows  something  about  practical 
agriculture  and  give  him  a  training  in  agricultural  science  and  the  improvement 
of  the  methods  followed  upon  the  farm. 

The  objection  on  which  I  am  now  dwelling  comes  with  special  force  when  we  con- 
sider the  class  of  teachers  that  we  have  in  our  rural  schools  in  ( mtario,  and  I  pre- 
sume you  have  them  also  in  the  various  States  of  the  Union.  As  a  rule,  the  rural 
schools  are  in  the  hands  of  young  women.  Many  of  them  have  been  brought  up 
on  the  farm  and  know  something  about  practical  farm  work:  but  a  great  many 
others  have  come  from  the  villages  and  the  towns  and  know  practically  nothing 
about  farm  wrork.  To  ask  them  to  introduce  into  their  schools  anything  that  has 
a  close  or  even  an  indirect  relationship  to  the  teaching  of  practic  il  agriculture 
would  mean  failure  at  the  very  beginning. 

So  that  if  we  are  going  to  try  to  induce  the  farmers  of  any  section,  or  espe- 
cially the  school  trustees  of  any  section,  to  have  agriculture  introduced  into  our 
rural  schools,  we  must  be  exceedingly  careful  to  lay  down  as  a  basic  principle  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  practical  agriculture  that  is  to  be  taught  there,  but  the  science 
of  agriculture.  The  art  of  agriculture  as  distinguished  from  the  science  must  be 
learned  in  a  jiractical  wray  upon  the  farm:  but  the  science  of  agriculture  can  be 
taught  and  is  being  taught  in  our  agricultural  colleges:  and  as  I  hope  to  show 
you  a  little  later,  a  certain  amount  of  it  can.  I  believe,  be  taught  in  our  rural 
schools  also. 

The  second  objection  which  I  have  met  with  very  frequently  in  discussing  this 
matter  with  teachers  and  others  who  have  not  become  intimately  ass  ciated  with 
the  work,  is  that  agriculture  is  a  dull  and  uninteresting  study.  In  fact,  we  can 
not  help  observing,  when  we  meet  this  objection,  that  the  idea  really  back  of  it. 
although  the  objectors  are  very  careful  not  to  express  it.  is  that  agriculture  is 
more  or  less  of  a  degrading  or  a  degraded  subject.  This  idea,  however,  is  being 
very  rapidly  removed,  especially  through  our  farmers*  institutes.  This  second 
objection  is  one  upon  wmich  I  need  not  dwell  before  a  body  of  this  kind.  As  to 
whether  agriculture  is  a  dull  and  uninteresting  pursuit  or  study,  you  can  answer 
as  well  as  I  can.  My  own  view  is  that  taking  the  whole  field  of  educational  sub- 
jects from  one  end  of  the  curriculum  to  the  other,  there  is  no  subject  that  is  so 
full  of  life,  so  full  of  interest,  so  attractive  as  agricultural  science,  particularly 
when  handled  by  a  man  or  a  woman  wTho  understands  the  subject  thoroughly  and 
puts  it  in  the  interesting  form  in  which  it  can  readily  be  put. 


86 

The  next  objection  comes  as  a  sort  of  a  rider  to  the  objection  just  stated.  A 
great  many  Bay,  "  Well,  there  ia  ;i  good  deal  of  interest  after  all  in  agriculture; 
but  is  it  an  educational  subject?'1  Upon  this  point  there  might  be  presented  along 
line  of  arguments  upon  which,  however,  I  shall  not  dwell.  I  simply  suggest  as 
topics  for  consideration  and  thought  the  questions:  "  What  are  educational  sub- 
jects?'1 What  ar*'  the  subjects  which  ought  to  have  a  place  upon  our  school 
curriculum?  Es  the  teaching  of  mathematics  an  educational  subject?  You  all 
admit  that  it  is.  Is  the  teaching  of  reading  and  writing  an  educational  subject? 
I>  the  study  of  the  dead  languages  or  the  living  languages  an  educational  subject? 
I  might  run  through  the  whole  gamut  of  the  subjects  ordinarily  taught  in  our 
schools  and  acadamies,  and  might  ask  whether  or  not  agriculture  as  such  can  be 
placed  alongside  of  them.  I  suppose  that  if  we  can  reduce  agriculture  to  a  scien- 
tific basis  and  prove  to  those  with  whom  we  are  discus-in.u'  the  question  that 
agriculture  after  all  lies  at  the  basis  of  a  great  many  of  our  various  scientific  sub- 
jects, they  will  be  compelled  to  admit  that  there  is  a  very  important  educational 
feature  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  agriculture. 

Another  objection  which  I  have  met  in  my  experience  in  the  mouths  of  teachers, 
schoi  .1  trustees,  and  others  is  that  all  rural  pupils  are  not  likely  t< »  become  farmers. 
Under  the  present  educational  methods,  and  as  teaching  is  now  being  conducted. 
I  say  to  such  an  objector.  "  You  are  quite  right:  all  the  pupils  in  our  schools  do 
not  become  farmers  or  agriculturists.  That  may  to  a  certain  extent  be  the  fault 
of  the  system."  But  I  savin  reply:  The  work  of  the  young  man  who  is  going 
into  the  legal  profession,  although  that  work  is  to  be  carried  on  in  our  towns  and 
cities,  will  again  and  again  turn  upon  agricultural  subjects.  Many  of  his  clients 
will,  unfortunately,  be  farmers.  Many  of  the  disputes  in  which  he  takes  part 
will  arise  over  agricultural  subjects.  And  would  it  not  be  to  the  advantage  of 
the  lawyers  of  this  country  to  know  a  little  more  about  the  science  of  agriculture? 
Or,  take  our  doctors,  would  it  not  greatly  assist  them,  especially  many  who  are 
engaged  in  country  practice,  if  they  knew  a  little  more  about  the  science  as  well 
as  the  art  of  agriculture?  And  if  we  come  to  the  more  sacred  calling,  that  of  the 
clergyman.  I  think  you  will  admit  that  a  great  many  sermons  would  certainly  be 
very  much  improved  and  a  great  deal  of  the  exposition  of  the  Bible  would  be  much 
more  correct  if  some  of  our  clergymen  had  a  little  more  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  agriculture.  The  Bible  itself  presupposes  to  a  large  extent  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  great  field  of  nature.  Many  of  the  finest  parables,  which  will  be 
recalled  to  your  mind  at  once,  turn  upon  the  facts  of  agriculture.  I  have  often 
wondered  how  ministers  of  the  gospel  could  preach  from  certain  texts  and  carry 
conviction  home  to  their  hearers  without  having  an  acquaintance  more  or  less 
intimate  with  the  great  field  of  agriculture,  from  which  parables  and  figures  in 
the  gospels  have  been  drawn.  So  it  seems  to  me  that  even  if  many  of  our  rural 
pupils  are  intending  to  go  into  the  learned  professions,  even  in  their  cases  a  more 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  great  field  of  agriculture  will  materially  assist 
their  work. 

Another  objection— and  I  do  not  know  but  that  this  is  perhaps  one  that  I  have 
most  frequently  met — is  this:  "We  have  already  on  our  hands  too  many  sub- 
jects. *"  This  alsi »  was  referred  to  this  morning.  The  object!  m  is.  I  repeat.  "  We 
have  already  upon  our  hands  and  are  called  upon  to  teach  too  many  subjects." 
To  this  the  answer  can  be  given:  Perhaps  there  are  now  embraced  in  the  school 
course  many  subjects  that  should  not  be  there.  If  there  is  anything  there  which 
is  more  important  than  agriculture,  that  subject  ought  to  remain.  But  if  agri- 
culture can  be  treated  as  an  educational  subject,  if  the  underlying  principles  of 
science  which  are  so  intimately  concerned  with  our  agricultural  methods  can  be 
introduced,  and  the  minds  of  pupils  developed,  the  senses  quickened  by  the  sub- 
ject, and  the  boy  or  the  girl  made  thereby  a  brighter,  more  intelligent,  more  wide- 


87 

awake,  more  enterprising,  and  more  successful  young  man  or  woman,  it  seems  to 
me  it'  the  curriculum  La  oow  overloaded,  there  must  be  something  there  thai  ought 
to  be  pushed  aside  in  order  to  make  way  for  t  Ins  very  important  subjei  t . 

Those  five  objections,  it  seems  to  me,  can  all  be  met,  if  the  question  be  con- 
sidered with  calmness  and  fairness  and  if  we  gel  at  1 J n -  root  of  the  whole  matter. 

My  second  division  of  the  subject  is,  What  are  the  difficulties  that  teachers  are 
likely  to  meet  with?  The  first  difficulty  is  thai  we  have  as  yet  very  little  provi- 
sion made  for  the  training  of  our  teachers.  We  should  not  expert  our  teachers 
to  go  into  the  rural  schools  and  imparl  information  along  these  lines  without  some 
instruction,  some  special  training.  Here.  I  think,  has  been  the  main  weakness  in 
our  attempt  at  teaching  agriculture  in  the  province  from  which  I  come.  You  can 
not  expect  teachers  to  teach  what  they  themselves  do  do!  understand. 

The  question,  however,  is  one  not  so  much  of  fact  as  of  method,  it  seems  to  me, 
because  what  we  ought  to  try  to  teach  in  our  rural  schools  is.  after  all.  hut  a  very 
few  of  the  underlying  principles;  and  if  we  could  only  make  in  our  great  training 
schools  for  teachers  proper  provision  for  the  instruction  of  those  teachers,  it  seems 
to  me  we  should  then  have  taken  the  first  step  along  the  right  line. 

The  second  point,  with  us.  at  least — and  I  think  the  same  remark  will  apply  in 
most  cases  to  yourselves — is  that  our  rural  schools  are  entirely  too  small:  our 
school  sections  are  too  small.  We  in  Canada  are  now  proposing  to  work  along 
the  lines  that  have  been  inaugurated  so  successfully  in  one  or  two  of  the  central 
States  of  the  Union.  We  are  trying  to  make  a  grouping  of  our  schools,  so  that 
instead  of  having  four  or  five  schools  in  a  township,  each  with  one  teacher  in  charge, 
teaching  all  the  grades  and  all  the  subjects,  trying  to  teach  a  little  of  everything, 
we  hope  in  the  near  future  to  have  these  schools  grouped  together  as  graded 
schools,  and  thereby  we  may  be  enabled  to  systematize  the  work  according  to  the 
methods  that  have  been  found  to  operate  so  successfully  in  our  town  and  city 
schools. 

The  greatest  danger  is  that  the  teacher  may  attempt  to  teach  too  much,  to  make 
the  course  too  complex,  too  scientific,  too  abstruse.  We  are  liable  in  this  case,  as 
in  others,  to  run  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  The  introduction  of  agricultural 
teaching  will  probably  result  in  many  schools  in  the  teacher  trying  to  do  too 
much  and  thereby  doing  nothing  well.  My  advice  along  that  line  would  be  to 
keep  the  instruction  as  simple  and  plain  as  it  possibly  can  be.  The  simplest  work- 
ings of  nature  are  after  all  the  most  wonderful:  and  the  teacher  should  simply 
remember  that  to  make  the  subject  interesting  and  attractive  it  will  not  be  neces- 
sary to  go  to  foreign  fields  or  seek  distant  climes,  but  that  most  instructive  use 
can  be  made  of  the  simplest  and  most  familiar  objects  which  are  right  at  hand. 

What  is  the  underlying  reason,  for  instance,  for  truancy  in  our  schools?  I  sup- 
pose some  of  you  can  speak  on  this  subject  feelingly.  Here  is  a  school,  and  among 
the  scholars  are  some  boys — I  will  not  now  refer  to  the  girls — who  will  not  remain 
in  school.  When  they  absent  themselves,  where  do  they  go?  Off  to  the  woods 
and  the  fields.  In  other  words,  they  go  out  to  find  nature.  There  is  something 
in  nature  that  attracts  them  more  than  does  the  schoolroom.  It  has  always 
seemed  tome  that  if  we  could  only  bring  some  of  that  nature  right  into  the  school- 
room, if  we  could  bring  there  the  nature  that  the  boy  is  longing  for.  that  he  wants 
to  mingle  with  and  is  bound  to  have  and  to  know  about,  if  we  could  bring  there 
the  birds  and  the  trees  and  the  grasses  and  the  flowers  and  study  them  there,  we 
should  solve  to  a  very  large  extent  that  great  problem,  the  securing  of  regular 
attendance  upon  the  schools,  and  along  with  it  could  be  solved  to  a  certain  extent, 
at  least,  the  very  important  question  of  discipline. 

There  are  other  difficulties  that  will  have  to  be  met.  I  presume  that  the  great- 
est one.  the  almost  insurmountable  one,  will  be  to  convince  the  school  trustees 
that  these  subjects  can  and  ought  to  be  taught.     I  have  discussed  this  matter 


88 

very  frequently  with  the  city  men,  the  men  who  are  associated  with  the  banking 
concerns,  the  lawyers  and  the  doctors  and  other  classes  of  intelligent  men;  and 
1  have  yet  t<>  meet  any  man  of  intelligence  in  these  callings  who  will  not  Bay  at 
once.  "Why.  certainly,  agriculture,  if  it  can  be  tanght  along  those  lines,  ought 
to  be  taught."'  I  must  say  that  I  have  found  greater  difficulty  in  convincing 
large  numbers  of  farmers  that  this  subject  can  and  ought  to  be  taught  in  the 
schools. 

We  may,  then,  find  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  in  certain  quarters  in  convincing 
the  trustees  and  other  men  directly  concerned  in  the  school  and  its  welfare  that 
these  subjects  should  be  introduced,  because,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  there 
are  certain  difficulties  that  have  to  be  removed.  These  objections  seem  to  have 
become  ingrained  in  the  rural  mind,  and  it  will  be  very,  very  difficult  to  remove 
them. 

Briefly,  let  me  refer  to  the  third  division  of  my  subject.  What  are  the  advan- 
tages or  benefits  likely  to  result?  First,  more  knowledge,  and  out  of  that  comes 
greater  love  for  work.  The  connection  is  so  close  that  we  need  not  discuss  it. 
Knowledge  leads  to  love  for  wTork.  and  love  for  work  necessarily  leads  to  success. 
Success  is  most  likely  to  follow7  in  our  great  agricultural  industries  as  a  result  of 
imparting  knowledge.  I  think  we  need  not  stop  now  to  discuss  that  phase  of  the 
question  at  any  length. 

The  next  point  is  that  the  best  boys  and  girls  will  be  saved  for  farm  work.  A 
great  many  who  now  drift  into  the  legal  profession  to  make  second-rate  or  third- 
rate  lawyers,  some  wTho  drift  into  the  medical  profession  to  make  indifferent  doc- 
tors, some  who  ap  ear  to  miss  their  calling  and  by  some  means  or  other  get  into 
our  pulpits — many  of  these  will  be  saved  for  a  more  useful  and  more  successful 
life  upon  the  farm.  And  a  great  many  who  might  succeed  in  these  professions 
will  be  saved  for  farm  work.  A  contented,  successful  farmer  is  one  of  the  richest 
assets  of  any  State.  I  wish  I  could  emphasize  and  illustrate  this  thought  as  it 
ought  to  be  emphasized  or  illustrated.  Look  over  your  own  country,  as  I  look 
over  mine:  and  where  to-day  are  the  elements  of  danger?  From  what  sources  are 
coming  those  forces  winch  are  threatening?  In  what  direction  do  we  look  for 
possible  trouble?  I  know  one  direction  in  which  we  do  not  look.  Wherever  we 
can  put  our  hand  on  a  successful,  contented  farmer,  we  simply  say.  "  That  man 
is  all  right."  We  do  not  look  for  strikes,  we  do  not  look  for  trouble,  we  do  not 
look  for  failure  from  that  great  body  of  men:  and  the  more  we  can  increase  that 
great  army  of  men,  the  fairly  wTell  educated,  the  hard- working,  contented,  pro- 
gressive farmers,  wiierever  wTe  find  such  men.  there  we  look  for  success,  especially 
of  a  material  nature;  and  we  look  there,  also,  for  those  great  moral  forces  which, 
so  to  speak,  control  and  contain  the  destiny  of  the  country,  its  future  prosperity 
and  its  success. 

Let  me  put  the  thought  in  another  form.  Suppose  we  pick  out  a  hundred 
fanners  in  a  certain  section  and  say  to  each  of  them.  "  By  training  and  education 
wre  can  help  you  to  earn  81.000  a  year:  "  and  suppose  at  the  same  time  we  say  to 
some  town  or  city  man,  ''We  can  by  education  and  training  help  you  to  earn 
$100,000  a  year.'"  Would  it  not  be  of  far  greater  import,  far  greater  value  to  a 
State  that  those  hundred  farmers  shall  be  assisted  by  training  and  education  in 
realizing,  each  of  them,  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  than  for  this  one  man  to  realize 
SI  00.000? 

There  are  many  lines  along  which  we  may  allow  our  imagination  to  run  in 
connection  with  this  subject:  and  there  is  one  that  is  very  attractive — the  ideal 
State.  If  we  could  picture  to  ourselves  all  the  boys  and  girls  upon  the  farms  of 
this  country  receiving  some  right  training  in  the  first  principles  of  agriculture, 
if  we  could  see  them  all  started  aright,  so  that  as  they  growT  up  they  would  know 
more  about  their  wrork.  would  take  more  interest  in  it  and  become  more  intelli- 


89 

gent,  brighter,  more  prosperous  suppose  such  a  picture  realized,  what  La  likely 
to  happen  to  the  country?  The  foundation  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  must 
necessarily  grow  at  a  tremendous  rate;  this  wealth  will  be  more  equally  distrib- 
uted than  it  could  be  by  any  other  means.  Our  agricultural  colleges  would  then 
be  numbered,  not  by  the  score,  but  rather  by  the  thousand.  The  great  mass  of 
the  people  would  be  clamoring  for  higher  and  higher  and  still  higher  education. 
And  I  wonder  what  then  would  become  of  our  institute  work? 

Suppose  now  you  go  into  souk;  new  section  with  your  institute  work.  The  peo- 
ple have  not  yet  begun  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  education  along  these 
lines.  You  find  it  difficult  to  get  a  foothold.  After  some  time,  however,  you  do 
secure  a  foothold  in  that  section,  and  then  you  introduce  your  institute.  You 
find  you  are  working  on  ground  which  perhaps  is  rich  and  promising  hut  which 
needs  a  great  deal  of  cultivation.  Your  efforts,  you  feel,  are  not  resulting  in  that 
benefit  to  the  community  which  you  ought  to  get.  If.  however,  that  community 
had  been  trained  up  in  the  simplest  principles  of  agriculture  from  the  start,  your 
farmers'  institute  organization  would  he  raised  to  a  higher  and  still  higher  level, 
and  the  agriculture  of  this  country  would  then  begin  to  assume  the  proportions 
that  it  ought  to  assume:  it  would  be  recognized,  not  simply  by  the  farmers  but  by 
our  town  and  cit\  people  and  by  our  legislator^.  I  )ur  laws  would  be  framed  and 
the  whole  work  of  the  State  would  be  carried  on  in  a  very  much  higher  order  and 
along  much  better  lines  than  they  often  are  at  the  present  day. 

Thus  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  if  we  could  only  begin  at  the  foundation  and 
work  gradually  up  to  the  great  mass  of  the  community,  instead  of  doing  as  now, 
trying  to  work  from  the  top  downward,  we  should  be  accomplishing  a  great  deal 
more  than  we  are  doing  now.  even  though  we  are  doing  so  much. 

I  trust  that  these  few  thoughts  which  I  have  thrown  out.  intended  to  be  sug- 
gestive, may  be  productive,  at  least,  of  some  discussion,  and  that  the  movement 
in  which  we  are  all  so  thoroughly  interested  will  receive  from  the  farmers'  insti- 
tute organization  an  impetus  in  the  various  States  and  provinces  and  may  rapidly 
go  forward,  so  that  at  no  very  distant  day  agriculture  will  assume  its  proper 
place,  and  our  schools  enlist  in  their  proper  work  of  teaching  our  boys  and  our 
girls  the  first  principles  of  the  science  of  agriculture,  the  foundation  science  of  all 
others,  the  greatest  and  most  interesting  science  with  which  we  can  have  any 
connection. 

HOW   MAY    THE    FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS    HASTEN   THE 
TEACHING  OF  AGRICULTURE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS? 

The  discussion  of  the  second  branch  of  the  question  of  teaching  agriculture  in 
the  public  schools,  viz.  "How  may  the  farmers'  organizations  hasten  this  inno- 
vation." was  opened  by  E.  B.  Voorhees,  of  New  Jersey,  as  follows: 

Mr.  Voorhees.  I  think  we  are  all  under  obligations  to  Professor  James  for  his 
outline  of  the  reasons  for  believing  in  the  agricultural  education  of  the  farmer's 
boy  and  girl.  I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  add  very  much  to  what  he  has  said  along 
this  line.  But  I  do  wish  to  emphasize  one  point  that  he  referred  to.  namely,  the 
influence  of  agricultural  training  upon  those  of  our  citizens  who  do  not  expect  to 
be  farmers.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  can  do  a  good  deal  along  that  line.  In  my 
contact  with  the  educated  people  of  the  country  (and  I  have  met  a  great  many  |  I 
have  found,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  a  great  deal  of  stupidity  on  their  part  in  reference 
to  the  e very-day  needs  of  life,  and  the  importance  of  a  knowledge  of  those  under- 
lying principles  which  have  been  urged  as  essential  for  our  children  and  of  very 
great  advantage  to  those  who  are  our  teachers  in  other  things. 

Now,  as  to  the  matter  of  the  farmers'  organizations  assisting  or  helping  along 


90 

this  movement  of  agricultural  education  in  our  public  schools,  it  seems  to  me 
the  keynote  was  struck  this  morning  by  Professor  Hamilton.  I  shall  not  take  up 
the  time  of  the  convention  by  enlarging  upon  the  great  truth  which  he  pointed 
out — that  Lf  we  are  going  to  get  the  proper  sort  of  education  along  these  lines  we 
must  first  create  a  demand  for  it:  and  we  can  not  get  that  demand  until  we  have 
the  farmers  themselves,  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  these  children,  so  much  inter- 
ested as  to  ask  for  greater  education  for  their  children  than  they  have  had  for 
themselves.  So  long  as  the  farmers  of  to-day  are  satisfied  that  science  can  not 
assist  them,  so  long  as  they  are  satisfied  to  go  along  in  the  old  lines,  there  will  not 
be  very  great  progress  in  the  instruction  that  can  be  given  in  the  schools  to  our 
children.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  this  respect  the  farmers"  organizations  can  do  a 
great  work  by  arousing  the  farmers  to  the  importance  of  the  knowledge  that  can 
be  gained  from  the  study  of  the  sciences  as  they  apply  to  agriculture.  As  the 
farmers'  institutes  go  on,  and  as  the  work  goes  on  in  that  line,  we  are  going  to 
have  a  greater  interest  among  the  farmers:  and  along  with  that  will  come  the 
greater  demand  for  the  proper  instruction  in  the  lower  schools. 

There  is  one  danger,  however,  in  just  that  line  along  which  Professor  Hamil- 
ton spoke  this  morning;  that  is,  in  grouping  together  the  common  schools  into  a 
large  high  school.  That  is  a  good  movement;  we  have  it  going  on  in  our  State. 
But  we  find  that  when  we  come  to  inquire  as  to  how  much  instruction  shall  be 
given  to  our  country  children,  particularly  along  the  lines  of  nature  study  and 
agricultural  education,  the  schools  have  not  room  for  it.  Now,  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  organization  of  the  farmers  can  come  in  right  there.  They  can  see  to  it 
that  in  these  combined  schools  there  shall  be  provision  made  for  the  instruction 
of  our  children  in  those  branches  in  which  we  are  deeply  interested.  So  long  as 
the  farmers'  organization  does  not  take  an  active,  earnest  interest  in  this  matter, 
the  city  man  and  the  "  progressive  educator,"  as  was  pointed  out  by  our  West 
Virginia  friend  this  morning,  are  going  to  use  their  influence  in  having  introduced 
into  those  schools  a  smattering  of  a  whole  lot  of  things — Latin.  Greek.  French, 
etc. — which  the  city  boy  seems  to  think  he  wants,  or  the  city  father  seems  to  think 
the  boy  needs,  so  that  there  is  danger  that  the  country  boy  is  not  going  to  get  any 
more  out  of  these  larger  schools  than  he  did  out  of  the  "  little  red  schoolhouse.*' 
There  is  going  to  be  the  difficulty,  unless  we  can  get  the  farmers  interested  so  as 
to  take  their  part  in  the  organization  and  management  of  these  schools,  so  as  to 
see  that  the  interests  of  the  farmers  and  of  the  farmers'  boys  and  girls  are  prop- 
erly taken  care  of. 

There  is  another  line  along  which  I  think  the  farmers'  organizations  might  be 
very  helpful;  that  is,  in  creating  a  proper  interest  on  the  part  of  the  teachers 
themselves.  There  is  the  difficulty  that  has  been  pointed  out  again  and  again. 
Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  if  we  can  get  a  sufficient  number  of  farmers  in  any  com- 
munity interested  enough,  we  can  get  some  man  or  woman  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  merits  of  the  case  to  go  from  school  to  school  and  give  short  talks  upon 
the  importance  of  this  branch  of  education,  showing  how  interesting  and  profit- 
able it  may  be  made  to  the  pupils.  We  can  not  get  the  trustees  and  the  farmers' 
organizations  in  our  State  up  to  the  point  where  they  will  agree  that  the  children 
and  the  teachers  shall  have  instruction  along  this  line.  If  the  farmers  will,  by 
organization  and  work,  cultivate  a  feeling  in  the  community  that  this  sort  of 
thing  would  be  helpful,  they  can  do  a  great  deal  of  good  in  starting  the  work  and 
eventually  in  developing  it  as  we  would  like  to  see  it  developed. 

I  am  fully  in  accord  with  Professer  James  that  the  genuine  uplift  for  agricul- 
ture must  come  from  the  education  of  those  who  are  to  be  the  farmers  of  the 
future,  not  so  much  the  education  of  the  farmers  of  to-day,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  shall  develop  an  interest  in  the  work  that  is  to  go  on  hereafter. 


01 
TEACHING  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  IN  THE  RURAL  DISTRICTS. 

Mis   s.  Evelyn  Breed,  Norfolk,  Va..read  the  following  paper  on  this  subject: 
I  will  to-day  give  yon  some  extracts  and  figures  from  my  reports,  covering  a 
six  3  ears'  experience  in  organizing  and  running  indnsl  rial  classes  |  among  colored 
people]  in  tin-  rural  districts  of  tidewater  Virginia,  and  also  in  connection  with 
public  school  work. 

NORFOLK. 

Organization.— Six  years  ago  the  Southern  industrial  classes  were  organized  in 
Norfolk.  Va.,  Norfolk  being  selected  as  the  basis  of  operation  on  account  of  its 
accessibility  from  other  points  in  the  State.  ;i  large  and  rapidly  increasing  popu- 
lation and  the  urgent  necessity  of  such  training  for  the  women  and  children.  No 
attempt  was  made  at  first  to  induce  the  authorities  to  put  such  industrial  classes 
in  their  schools,  although  that  was  the  main  object  of  the  promoters;  however, 
permission  was  obtained  to  use  the  one  negro  public  school  building  after  Bchool 
hours  for  such  purposes.  The  building  is  large,  well  built,  and  admirably 
adapted  for  the  purpose.  The  reason  for  selecting  the  public  schoi  1  building,  a 
reason  which  has  always  applied,  is  getting  from  the  outset  a  hold  on  the  board 
of  education  and  gaining  their  cooperation,  doing  away  at  the  beginning  with  an 
ideaof  this  work  being  considered  a  public  charity  or  a  purely  outside  movement. 

Equipment. — There  were  no  extra  rooms  available  for  the  cooking  and  sewing 
classes.  A  primary  room  which  was  dismissed  earlier  in  the  day  was  decided 
upon  for  the  cooking  room,  the  earlier  hour  at  which  the  room  was  accessible 
making  this  desirable.  It  is  a  large  room  with  five  windows,  and  has  the  great 
advantage  of  movable  desks.  Ten  feet  across  the  end  of  this  room  (making  a 
space  of  34  by  10  feet  and  taking  in  8  windows,  2  at  the  end,  and  1  at  the  side) 
was  appropriated  for  the  equipment.  In  the  space  between  the  windows  two  gas 
stoves  were  placed:  on  either  side  of  the  stoves  were  large  tables,  one  covered 
with  zinc  to  serve  for  the  dish  washing.  Across  the  corner,  on  the  right,  a  corner 
cupboard  was  put  in;  this  holds  the  actual  kitchen  utensils.  On  the  left  is  a 
movable  safe  holding  the  smaller  articles,  and  next  to  that,  although  against  the 
side  wall,  is  the  supply  closet  and  an  Aladdin  oven.  A  long  table  on  rollers  goes 
across  in  front  of  the  gas  stoves:  this  table  is  narrower  than  usual,  owing  to  the 
space  limits.  A  small  folding  table,  standing  during  class  hours  under  the  side 
window,  a  beaten  biscuit  block  which  also  serves  as  a  table  for  the  tub  used  to 
drain  the  dishes  in:  and  a  small  china  press  between  the  side  windows  complete 
the  equipment.  The  walls  are  of  blue  kalsomine.  making  an  excellent  back- 
ground for  the  Pratt  and  Department  of  Agriculture  charts;  blue  and  white 
striped  curtains  cover  the  blackboards  which  go  around  the  room  when  not  in 
use,  and  add  very  much  to  a  certain  air  of  homelikeness.  and  white  sash  curtains 
are  at  the  windows.  Two  denim  screens  hide  the  stove  and  screen  off  a  dining- 
room  when  needed,  and  a  small  oak  desk,  which  is  brought  in  for  the  teacher, 
adds  to  the  general  appearance. 

A  sunny  room  was  selected  for  the  sewing  room,  also  used  for  the  library, 
emergency  classes,  special  classes,  and  gatherings.  A  few  pictures,  an  organ,  and 
plants  were  bought.  The  bookcases  in  this  instance  were  purchased  secondhand. 
as  nothing  in  the  way  of  new  bookshelves  was  possible  at  an  ec  monacal  figure  at 
the  time  and  the  cases  were  added  as  they  were  needed.  The  exact  figures  in 
regard  to  equipment  I  can  not  give.  We  were  obliged  to  use  gas  for  cooking  pur- 
poses on  account  of  the  insurance  clause.  About  8150  was  expended  for  the  cook- 
ing equipment,  which  included  at  first  one  gas  stove  at  $28.  one  at  -Sin.  charts  $15, 
oilcloth  covering  the  floor  of  the  10-foot  space  $5,  cooking  utensils  about  $40,  ice 
box  SI 5,  furniture  and  miscellaneous  about  $47.  The  Aladdin  oven  is  not  included. 
as  it  was  a  gift.     This  outfit  is  not  sufficient  for  individual  work.     This  amount, 


92 

with  $500  spent  for  improvements  and  the  sum  spent  for  the  furnishing  of  the 

sewing  room  and  office,  probably  meant  a  total  expenditure  of  Si  ,000.  Everything 
necessary  was  purchased  and  everything  done  to  make  the  rooms  attractive  in 

order  to  appeal  to  the  community.  Such  a  work  could  be  started  much  cheaper. 
It  lias  been  since,  but  this  was  to  bean  object  lesson.  While  curtains,  plants,  and 
pictures  are  not  necessities,  they  all  had  their  place  in  this  instance. 

At  the  end  of  the  primary  school  day  at  2  p.  m.  the  room  is  swept,  desks  moved 
back,  and  cooking  equipment  put  in  place.  At  2.30 the  grammar  grades  report  for 
their  lesson,  which  is  over  at  4  p.  m.  Tin  cooking  classes  were  opened — class 
hours  from  2  p.  m.  to  8  p.  m.  daily — two  classes  per  day. 

It  was  possible  to  secure  seamstresses  to  give  the  sewing  lessons:  it  was  not 
possible  to  secure  cooking  teachers.  A  normal  class  was  <  organized  and  the  county 
teachers  induced  to  avail  themselves  of  these  classes.  From  the  beginning  the 
requirement  for  admission  to  the  normal  class  has  been  a  certificate  as  a  county 
school-teacher,  which  in  Virginia  stands  for  certain  State  examinations  passed 
and  certain  regulations  conformed  to.  The  classes  were  free,  girls  in  the  after- 
noon and  wTomen  at  night.  The  usual  courses  in  cooking  and  sewing  were  given, 
mothers'  meetings  started,  emergency  lectures  given,  and  a  library  for  general 
distribution  collected.  The  cost  of  these  classes  has  been  the  same  per  capita  as 
in  the  usual  public  school  work  everywhere.  There  are  two  extra  expenses — a 
boy  to  sweep,  move  the  deslis.  and  rearrange  the  room  for  the  cooking  lessons, 
and  a  woman  to  take  the  usual  janitor's  place  and  be  responsible  for  the  building. 
This  costs  $10  per  month,  otherwise  expenses  are  about  the  same. 

This  plan  was  pursued  for  four  years.  In  the  meantime  two  classes  of  public 
school-teachers  had  graduated  as  normal  teachers.  Some  of  these  young  women 
found  employment  in  two  instances  as  heads  of  domestic  science  departments  in 
schools:  some  were  already  employed  by  us  and  the  others  are  keeping  on  with 
their  own  school  work.  The  schools  in  Norfolk  County  had  been  visited,  and  a 
general  interest  had  been  aroused.  Appeals  were  coming  in  for  cooking  or  sewing 
classes  at  these  schools  or  in  some  little  settlement.  These  appeals  were  arranged 
for  when  practicable.  As  far  as  possible  the  public  school  buildings  were  utilized. 
The  authorities  were  ready  to  cooperate  and  showed  their  interest  by  visiting  the 
classes  and  always  encouraged  a  further  extension.  This  in  part  is  due  to  the 
superintendent  of  education  in  Norfolk.  Mr.  R.  A.  Dobie,  who  has  warmly 
espoused  the  work  and  has  never  hesitated  to  indorse  it.  To  his  broad-minded 
policy  it  owes  its  success. 

RURAL   DISTRICTS. 

When  the  schoolhouses  were  not  available  for  cooking  classes,  the  teacher 
usually  prevailed  upon  some  one  to  lend  a  kitchen.  These  kitchens  were  small, 
and  besides  a  stove  and  one  table,  were  devoid  of  equipment,  water  being  pro- 
cured from  a  pump  in  the  yard.  Cooking  utensils  were  supplied  from  the  5  and 
10  cent  stores  in  Norfolk,  and  the  kitchen  made  possible  at  an  expenditure  of  from 
$3  to  $5.  The  members  of  the  night  class  brought  their  own  lamps,  plates,  knives, 
and  forks.  While  this  is  not  the  best  plan,  in  one  way  it  did  something  a  completed 
outfit  would  not.  it  aroused  personal  interest  and  the  people  felt  they  were  doing 
something  for  the  work,  and  they  had  a  part  in  it.  Sewing  can  always  be  taught 
in  the  schoolhouses. 

Present  plan. — At  the  end  of  four  years  the  Norfolk  city  board  established  this 
work  in  their  curriculum  in  the  colored  schools,  and  sloyd,  sewing,  and  cooking 
are  taught  during  school  hours.  The  normal  classes  continue,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  teachers  in  the  county  and  cities  of  Portsmouth.  Berkley.  Newport  News. 
and  Norfolk  are  enrolled  or  have  been  members  of  the  training  'classes,  sloyd, 
basketry,  and  chair  caning  being  added  to  the  teachers'  courses.  These  classes 
meet  from  4  p.  m.  to  8  p.  m.  Friday  afternoons,  making  it  possible  for  the  teachers 


93 

to  come  in  from  all  around  the  county.    These  teachers  are  either  teaching  these 

branches  in  their  schools  now.  or  will.  Materials  are  sent  them,  plan  of  lessons, 
and  explicit  instruction.  They  carry  Oil  their  work.  Bending  ill  monthly  reports. 
Some  of  these  schools  are  visited  weekly,  ot  hers  not  more  than  once  a  year. 

The  schools  in  Norfolk,  Berkley,  Portsmouth,  and  Newport  News  are  of  course 
under  direct  supervision,  and  specially  paid  teachers  are  sent  to  these  schools,  hut 
out  in  the  county  that  is  impossible.  The  salaries  vary  from  $16  to  $45  per  month 
and  all  traveling  expenses  are  paid.  F<>r  work  in  the  rural  districts  50  cents 
per  lesson  is  paid,  arranging  so  a  teacher  will  have  two  lessons  the  same  day  at  a 
school. 

One  of  the  outgrowths  of  this  work,  which  shows  the  general  interest,  is  at 
Deep  Creek;  here  are  five  schools  from  3  to  I  miles  apart.  The  county 
superintendent  induced  a  yonng  woman  who  lived  in  this  neighborhood  to  come 
in  for  the  normal  classes  throughout  the  winter  months:  she  went  once  a  week  to 
each  of  these  schools,  walking  the  entire  distance  and  teaching  boys  and  girls  alike 
to  sew.  The  parents  provided  the  materials.  ( Settling  to  headquarters  one  dayin 
the  week  made  it  possible  for  the  teacher  to  arrange  for  special  instruction,  sup- 
plies, etc. 

Another  outgrowth  is  at  West  Norfolk.  The  parents  rented  a  little  three-room 
cabin  adjoining  the  Bchoolhonse,  paying  75  cents  per  week  rent.  The  school 
board  provides  fuel:  the  neighbors  contribute  vegetables.  The  boys  of  the  school 
painted  the  inside  of  the  cabin  and  made  shelves  for  the  kitchen  of  the  boxes  the 
utensils  were  packed  in.  A  table  was  made  in  the  same  way.  Thirty  dollars  was 
spent  on  the  equipment.  The  upstairs  room  is  only  used  as  a  storeroom:  the 
downstairs  rooms  are  arranged  for  kitchen  and  dining  room.  Sewing  and  cook- 
ing classes  are  given  two  days  in  the  week,  three  classes  each  day,  one  of  these 
classes  being  a  mothers'  class.  The  bills  for  this  school  per  month  run  between 
$7  and  $8.  The  classes  do  all  the  housework  connected  with  their  house,  even  to 
chopping  the  wood.  The  cabin  is  fitted  up  as  any  cabin  in  the  neighborhood  might 
be.  The  stove  cost  $12  and  is  like  its  neighbors.  The  equipment  is  not  adapted 
for  individual  work,  and  the  group  method  is  used  here  and  also  for  all  our  neigh- 
borhood classes.  The  people  are  very  proud  of  this  house,  and  it  has  been  an 
object  lesson  in  the  neighborhood.  The  teacher  goes  from  Norfolk  by  trolley,  but 
has  a  walk  of  about  a  mile  besides. 

Fitting  up  rural  schools  for  cooking. — There  is  no  reason  why  sewing,  cooking, 
and  sloyd  can  not  be  taught  in  every  rural  community  with  slight  expense.  The 
heating  stoves  in  the  rural  schools  can  be  changed  to  cooking  stoves  and  a  simple 
cupboard  put  up  against  the  wall  to  hold  utensils  at  a  cost  of  about  $6.  A  local 
carpenter  can  do  this  if  the  boys  can  not,  or  some  one  in  the  neighborhood  suffi- 
ciently interested  to  help  in  this  way.  Shelf  tables,  suspended  from  the  wall  on 
hinges,  can  also  be  put  up  by  the  carpenter,  and  the  whole  equipment  when  not 
in  use  need  require  very  little  extra  room.  Thirty  dollars  should  cover  the  first 
cost,  and  some  money  be  allowed  to  replace  articles  that  will  be  broken  or  lost. 
The  materials  used  will  vary  greatly  in  cost  according  to  the  locality,  and  the 
teacher's  salary  according  as  you  pay  your  public  school  teachers.  The  industrial 
teacher  should  be  paid  more  than  the  county  teacher,  as  more  is  required  of  her 
physically.  The  cost  of  the  sewing  is  the  same  as  anywhere  else,  as  standard 
prices  govern  these  supplies;  also  the  sloyd,  basketry,  and  chair  caning.  In  each 
community  there  are  industries  that  are  peculiar  to  that  locality,  and  it  is  well  to 
adapt  such  work  in  the  regular  school  curriculum.  One  very  excellent  substitute 
for  bowls  and  dippers  in  the  rural  district  is  the  gourd,  and  another  variety  of 
gourd  furnishes  the  dishcloth.  On  the  utilization  of  the  near-at-hand  things 
depends  a  great  deal  of  the  success  of  this  work,  and  the  people  undoubtedly 
appreciate  this.     They  feel  more  in  touch  with  what  is  being  done. 


94 

Organization.-— I  vrould  suggest  always  as  a  first  step  parents' meetings,  and 
after  interest  is  aroused  and  you  arc  positive  such  classes  are  wanted,  sewing  for 

the  girls  and  sonic  industry  for  the  boys  which  requires  no  great  outlay.  If  pos- 
sible, arrange  with  the  county  teacher  to  take  and  carry  on  such  classes  herself. 
Then,  if  the  work  grows,  form  cooking  classes  and  send  a  special  teacher,  unless 
the  county  teacher  has  been  a  member  of  some  training  class.  Before  the  special 
teacher  begins,  I  would  be  sure  that  the  community  would  help  in  some  way.  no 
matter  how  small. 

A- a  prelude  to  all  this  work,  teachers"  classes  should  be  established  at  some 
place  easily  accessible  to  all.  This  takes  time.  Naturally  the  teachers  will  not 
at  first  feel  that  they  can  spare  the  time,  but  if  the  lessons  are  so  given  as  to 
arouse  interest  in  the  beginning  it  will  work  itself  out. 

Correlation. — Much  can  be  accomplished  by  the  special  teacher  in  aiding  the 
regular  teacher.  She  can  distribute  for  the  regular  teacher  reading  matter, 
mounted  pictures,  seeds,  and  leaflets  to  correlate  with  the  nature-study  work:  for 
the  question  of  gardens  seems  to  belong  quite  as  much  to  the  one  department  as 
to  the  other.  One  of  our  pupils  is  a  school-teacher  in  Southampton  County. 
She  teaches  sewing  in  her  own  school,  and  distributes  supplies  to  eight  schools  in 
the  county.  They  report  to  her  and  she  to  us.  We  see  this  work  about  once  a 
year.  All  the  teaching  is  voluntary  and  done  in  each  case  by  the  school-teacher 
herself.  After  the  schools  close  this  woman  goes  from  settlement  to  settlement 
in  a  mule  cart,  owned  by  the  neighbors  by  whom  she  is  entertained  over  night, 
and  gives  cooking  lessons  in  the  homes,  the  women  making  aprons  and  quilts  to 
raise  money  for  the  lesson.  The  expense  of  material  is  borne  by  the  members 
of  the  classes,  and  the  equipment  is  simply  what  the  home  affords. 

A   SUMMER   CAMPAIGN    IN    VIRGINIA. 

You  may  be  interested  to  hear  of  one  experience  in  the  upper  part  of  Virginia: 
a  summer  campaign  lasting  three  months.  Summer  was  selected  because  the 
roads  were  in  good  condition,  the  planting  over,  and  the  women  more  at  leisure. 

Cooking  lessons  had  been  held  out  as  a  reward  to  the  sewing  classes  at  the  five 
distant  county  schools  during  the  winter.  These  schools  were  scattered  in  Fred- 
erick and  Clark  counties.  "Winchester,  being  the  central  point,  and  largest  town 
was  made  the  base  of  supplies,  the  respective  villages  being  from  10  to  13  miles 
distant. 

The  course  of  twelve  lessons  required  three  months,  and  at  the  outset  it  was  a 
problem  how  these  lessons  could  be  given  at  the  various  villages,  devoid  of  rail- 
road connections,  without  involving  an  unreasonable  expenditure  of  money. 

The  only  feasible  plan  was  to  drive,  and  carry  all  utensils,  etc..  and  so  avoid  the 
fitting  up  of  five  class  rooms.  After  much  planning  a  wagon  was  secured,  with 
room  enough  under  the  seats  for  two  long  baskets  in  which  were  packed  the 
various  requisites,  which  were  as  light  as  possible  so  as  not  to  burden  too  heavily 
the  horse,  which  had  from  92  to  100  miles  to  cover  per  week.  The  supplies,  too, 
were  largely  taken  from  Winchester,  as  many  every-day  articles  were  not  to  be 
found  at  the  little  cross-roads  stores. 

The  pupils. — The  people  were  willing  to  do  all  they  could  and  offered  their 
kitchens,  but  in  two  cases  only  was  it  possible  to  accept,  owing  to  the  lack  of 
accommodation.  The  first  week  was  devoted  to  thorough  cleaning,  and  the  one 
extravagance  of  the  whole  term  was  the  purchase  of  numerous  cleaning  agents. 
This  general  cleaning  was  a  great  surprise  to  the  classes.  After  having  a  stove 
blacked  with  a  new  broom  and  a  room  scrubbed  without  moving  anything— the 
chairs,  pails,  etc..  carefully  scrubbed  around. leaving  little  deserts  of  dryness  and 
dirt  when  they  were  lifted  up — a  few  practical  lessons  were  given  in  cleaning. 


95 

which  Later  on  produced  very  good  results  among  the  children,  and  quite  trans- 
formed tin-  dingy,  dirty,  old  halls. 

Instruct  inn.  it  was  found  impracticable  to  carry  oul  a  regular  course  of  Lessons 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  procuring  material.  In  the  adull  classes  a  course  of 
invalid  cookery  was  considered  mosl  essential,  as  they  lack  especially  knowledge 
of  the  proper  preparation  of  the  simplest  forms  of  remedies  and  uourishing  food. 
In  all  cases  the  lessons  were  adapted  to  the  special  needs  of  the  pupils  and  to  the 
food  supply  available. 

Expense.^  me  hundred  and  twenty  people  were  taught  cooking  for  three  months 
at  an  expenditure  of  |468. W  (not including  teacher's  salary),  or  about  $1.86  per 
capita  for  the  course  of  twelve  lessons.  The  heaviest  expense  was  for  driver  and 
horse,  about  |71.35  for  three  months,  leaving  the  balance  for  rent,  fuel,  material, 
and  incidentals. 

Outfit. — The  wagon  used  was  a  ••democrat.'"  It  was  strongly  built  and  wide. 
Underneath  the  wagon  bung  two  pails,  the  water  and  scrub  pails.  In  the  baskets 
under  the  seats  were  carried  a  dozen  cups,  saucers,  forks,  spoons,  knives,  plates, 
half  dozen  bowls,  half  dozen  saucepans,  and  what  would  be  considered  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  equipment  of  one  school.  Some  tin  pails  were  purchased,  in 
which  were  left  the  dry  supplies,  and  each  school  had  its  own  dish  towels,  broom, 
dustpan,  and  scrub  brushes;  otherwise  the  equipment  was  carried  from  place  to 
place. 

At  Middttetoum. — The  lessons  were  given  in  a  hall.  A  stove,  some  old  church 
pews,  and  a  table  constituted  the  furniture,  which  was  all  rented  at  $2  per  month. 
The  stove  (the  best  one  that  we  could  procure)  lacked  a  good  many  essentials  and 
unfortunately  had  no  feet.  One  day  it  toppled  over,  ruining  everything  and 
delaying  the  lesson  greatly,  which  was.  however,  successfully  repeated  after  the 
damage  had  been  repaired.  The  water  all  had  to  be  carried  here  from  a  neigh- 
boring brook,  and  one  small  pupil  fell  in.  narrowly  escaping  drowning.  After 
that  the  driver,  who  cut  the  wood,  went  <>n  errands, took  care  of  the  horse,  scrubbed 
floors,  did  the  packing,  etc..  added  to  these  numerous  duties  the  care  of  the  small 
children  who  accompanied  the  mothers  and  older  sisters.  These  women  lived  on 
little  farms,  frequently  from  2  to  :■>  miles  from  the  village,  and  yet.  after  a  hard 
day's  work,  they  walked  or  rode  in  on  a  mule,  nearly  always  bringing  two  <  >r  three 
small  children  with  them.  As  a  class  they  were  industrious,  hard  working,  and 
very  ambitious  for  better  ways  of  housekeeping;  that  was  the  vital  point  which 
appealed  to  them.  They  were  not  far  enough  advanced  to  desire  education.  They 
could  not  read.  To  have  a  comfortable  home  with  its  little  garden  attached  was 
their  great  desideratum.  They  lived  in  two  or  three  roomed  cabins,  weather- 
boarded,  as  a  rule:  the  garden  affording  sufficient  vegetables,  and  the  inevitable 
pig  the  meat  supply.  They  went  out  as  nurses  and  cooks  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  so  supported  the  family.  They  liked  the  cooking  lessons,  for  it  enabled  them 
to  earn  more  money  by  cooking  for  the  country  families,  and  they  recognized  and 
appreciated  fully  the  advantages  of  being  taught  invalid  cookery  which  they  were 
quick  to  adapt  to  their  own  needs. 

Whenever  possible  supplies  were  purchased  from  them,  so  as  to  give  them  a 
financial  interest  as  well  in  the  welfare  of  the  school. 

Stephens  City. — At  Stephens  City  the  lessons  were  given  in  a  typical  Virginia 
log  cabin,  the  light  and  the  air  as  well  as  the  rain  coming  in  through  the  crevices, 
the  ducks,  chickens,  dogs,  and  babies  all  as  much  interested  as  the  class  and  quite 
as  regular  in  attendance. 

These  classes  did  the  best  work  and  wTere  enthusiastic  and  appreciative  They 
brought  constantly  donations  of  radishes,  cucumbers,  lettuce,  and  parsley,  as  well 
as  fruit  in  season,  for  the  lesson.     The  women  ranged  in  ages  from  22  to  65. 

The  children's  class  numbered  1!»;  average  age,  L2  years.     Dishes  were  sent  out 


96 

from  every  lesson  to  the  rick  and  infirm  of  the  neighborhood.  This  is  the  custom 
in  all  classes.  The  children  were  also  encouraged  to  take  honie  something  to  their 
parents,  which  they  took  pride  in  doing.  The  people  here  were  in  the  same  cir- 
cumstances as  at  Middletown.  and  nearly  all  owned  their  hone--. 

Miss  Emma  S.  Jacobs,  director  of  cooking  schools.  Washington,  D.  C,  dis- 
cussed the  same  Bnbject  as  follow-: 

What  is  this  domestic  science  and  art  which  has  been  added  to  the  subjects 
taught  in  so  many  schools  throughout  the  land  and  at  which,  until  recently,  so 
many  teachers  and  superintendents  have  looked  with  suspicion  and  often  dis- 
pleasure, declaring  it  was  entirely  out  of  place  in  the  public  schools? 

Under  this  term  are  included  the  various  household  arts,  such  as  the  prepara- 
tion of  food,  the  making  of  garments  and  household  articles,  the  building,  fur- 
nishing, and  keeping  of  the  home,  and  the  keeping  of  things  clean.  In  other 
words,  it  includes  all  those  subjects  which  have  to  do  with  maintaining  the  home 
and  the  inmates  of  the  home. 

To  carry  on  certain  of  these  processes,  especially  the  cooking  and  the  cleaning, 
the  principles  of  chemistry,  physics,  and  biology  must  be  used,  although  uncon- 
sciously used:  while  for  other  processes,  such  as  furnishing  and  decorating  the 
home,  the  principles  of  the  fine  arts  must  be  used.  So.  speaking  in  the  broad 
sense,  this  subject  is  one  form  of  applied  science. 

But  is  it  not  more  than  this?  The  term  "  domestic  "  carries  with  it  the  thought 
of  things  connected  with  the  home.  When  a  child  is  born  he  becomes  the  center 
of  the  home  circle.  His  first  impressions  are  received  from  this  home:  as  he 
grows  he  is  influenced  by  the  conditions  of  the  home  life  and  made  or  marred 
accordingly.  Now.  as  he  is  not  born  for  himself  alone,  these  impressions  and 
influences  should  be  of  such  character  that  he  will  be  trained  by  them  to  perform 
his  obligations  to  his  fellow-men.  hence  the  conditions  surrounding  him  should  n  -e 
as  nearly  perfect  as  it  is  possible  to  have  them.  In  the  maintenance  of  the  home, 
energy,  time,  and  money  must  be  consumed,  and  if  this  child  is  to  help  others,  he 
must  be  trained  to  correctly  estimate  the  value  of  these  three  things.  As  the 
earlier  impressions  are  the  strongest,  the  home,  during  the  formative  period  of 
his  life,  should  be  so  conducted  as  to  secure  the  very  best  results  with  the  least 
expenditure  of  time,  money,  and  energy.  How  to  conduct  the  home  on  this 
principle  is  one  branch  of  the  broad  subject,  economics.  Domestic  science  treats 
of  this,  hence  it  is  even  broader  than  a  form  of  applied  science  and  should  be 
classed  as  home  economics. 

As  we  look  about  us  and  study  the  homes  and  the  children  in  the  homes,  we 
soon  realize  that  there  is  a  vast  waste  of  time,  money,  and  energy.  Home  econom- 
ics emphasizes  the  home  as  the  unit  of  society  and  the  management  of  the  home 
as  a  business  where  the  wife  is  the  partner.  On  her  ability  to  direct  and  spend 
wisely  depends  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  Surely,  then,  if  so  much  depends 
on  the  wife,  our  girls  should  be  as  well  trained  for  this  business  of  directing  and 
spending  as  are  our  boys  for  earning. 

Again,  we  find  very  few  people  who  are  well.  Do  you  realize  the  vast  waste 
which  results  from  this  imperfect  health?  Have  you  taken  account  of  the  time 
lost  by  those  too  miserable  to  work,  or  even  of  the  poor  quality  of  the  work  done 
because  of  this  condition?  Whoever  does  estimate  this  and  adds  t  i  it  the  actual 
money  spent  in  the  endeavor  to  keep  well  will  be  astonished  at  the  number  of  fig- 
ures required  t<  i  express  it.  Do  y<  >u  ask  the  cause  of  this  imperfect  health?  In  the 
majority  of  cases  it  is  due  to  the  unsanitary  homes  and  the  unhygienic  conditions 
in  which  we  live.  In  other  cases  it  is  due  to  lack  of  nourishing  food.  I  do  not 
mean  that  we  do  not  eat  a  sufficient  lmmlier  of  ounces  of  food  material,  for  wt 
do,  but  that  this  food  is  so  prepared  and  served  that  from  it  we  get  little  nourish- 
ment and  often  none  at  all.     If  this  be  true,  then  it  is  time  our  boys  and  girl 


97 

were  taught  something  of  these  tiling  thai  they  may  secure  for  themselves  well' 
built  houses,  perfect  plumbing  and  city  drainage,  good  water,  pure,  well-cooked 
food,  and  clean  streets.  But  should  these  things  betaughl  in  the  public  schools 
during  the  early  formative  period,  in  Bpecial  schools  during  the  latter  pari  of  the 
formative  period,  or  after  maturity  is  reached? 

The  modern  idea  of  education  is  to  develop  and  train  the  individual  to  think, 
plan,  and  execute;  in  other  words,  to  so  prepare  him  that  he  will  be  able  to  give 
visible  proof  that  he  understands  the  things  he  has  been  studying.  Does  this 
subject  of  home  economics  offer  any  opportunity  for  the  individual  to  gain  this 
power? 

Through  hand  work  comes  the  gradual  increase  of  muscular  control  and  the 
power  of  muscular  expression  which  makes  the  worker  self-reliant.  If.  at  the 
same  time,  he  learns  to  secure  results  with  the  least  expenditure  of  tine-  and 
energy,  he  will  be  be  a  valuable  workman.  In  the  basket  weaving,  modeling, 
sewing,  cooking,  and  other  household  occupations  there  is  much  opportunity  for 
this  hand  work.  and.  where  the  reason  for  doing  these  things  is  well  understood. 
there  will  be  a  coordinate  working  of  mind  and  muscle.  Moreover,  by  the  actual 
doing  of  these  things  a  new  aspect  and  a  new  value  are  given  to  the  hand  worker. 
and  he  who  is  an  intelligent  hand  worker  will  be  as  much  respected  as  he  who 
can  calculate  the  distance  to  the  moon.  This  change  of  attitude  toward  the 
position  of  cook  is  one  which  is  to  be  especially  desired,  and  not  until  themistress 
realizes  that  brains  are  required  to  make  a  loaf  of  bread  or  a  kettle  of  soup  (  an 
we  ever  hope  to  have  better  work  done  in  our  kitchens. 

In  the  operations  of  cooking  and  cleaning,  the  student  deals,  as  he  does  in 
chemistry,  physics,  and  biology,  with  forces  which  are  outside  himself  and 
learns  that  he  must  know  how  to  use  these  forces  if  he  would  secure  the  desired 
results:  that  it  is  not  as  he  pleases,  but  as  nature  must  that  results  are  obtained. 
So  he  is  gradually  taught  the  meaning  of  obedience,  freedom,  and  self-control. 
three  very  important  things  for  the  youth  of  to-day.  for  whom  the  term  ' '  pers<  .mil 
responsibility  has  little  or  no  meaning.  When  this  knowledge  is  once  acquired, 
he  will  cease  to  say:  "  I  will  live  where  I  please  and  eat  what  and  when  I  please." 

As  success  depends  on  obedience  in  applying  principles,  then  failure  has  a  cause, 
to  find  which  the  student's  reasoning  faculty  must  be  called  into  play.  His  judg- 
ment also  is  trained  when  he  is  given  the  opportunity  to  select  materials  and 
decide  where  and  how  to  use  them  to  the  best  advantage. 

As  the  power  of  expression  and  self-control,  the  reasoning  faculty  and  the  judg- 
ment are  developed  by  these  things  which  come  under  the  head  of  home  economics 
or  domestic  science,  then  this  subject  should  be  taught  in  every  public  school,  for 
these  are  the  powers  we  want  all  our  young  people  to  have.  You  will  perhaps 
agree  that  this  should  be  done  in  the  city  schools,  but  hesitate  to  accept  it  for  the 
country  schools,  arguing  that  the  country  children  go  to  school  for  so  short  a 
period  that  all  the  time  should  be  spent  in  learning  to  read,  write,  and  make 
calculations.  Do  not  the  conditions  of  ill  health,  poorly  built  and  ventilated 
houses,  and  unsanitary  surroundings  prevail  in  the  country  districts  as  well  as  in 
the  city?  Is  not  the  food  you  eat  in  the  country  as  poorly  prepared  as  at  any 
place  in  the  city?  And  is  not  the  development  of  the  individual  as  important  in 
the  country  as  in  the  city?  These  people  can  not  put  their  homes  on  a  good  busi- 
ness footing  until  they  realize  that  their  unhygienic  ways  of  living  are  responsible 
for  so  much  of  the  nonsuccess  and  unhappiness  in  their  lives,  any  more  than  they 
can  put  their  farms  on  a  paying  basis  until  they  understand  that  everything  on 
the  farm  has  a  value,  and  that  the  highest  efficiency  of  work  or  product  is  obtained 
only  when  all  things  are  as  nearly  perfect  as  possible.  Animals  will  not  give 
their  best  unless  well  fed  and  cared  for.     The  land  will  not  yield  a  full  crop  unless 

9953— No.  120—02 7 


98 

it  is  well  prepared  and  contains  those  elements  which  are  necessary  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  crop:  then  how  can  man  attain  to  his  highest  efficiency  under  exist- 
mditions?    For  this  reason,  teach  the  boys  and  girls  how  to  get  well  and 
keep  well. 

But  how  much  of  this  can  be  taught  in  the  rural  schools;  who  is  to  teach  it, 
and  how  is  she  to  teach  it.  arc  some  of  the  questions  which  confront  us.  Cer- 
tainly the  teacher  who  is  now  employed  in  these  schools  can  not  do  it.  Then  it 
must  l»e  by  a  special  teacher  who  will  visit  the  schools  in  succession  periodically, 
taking  Inn-  material  with  her. 

SEWING    AND   COOKINO. 

What  branch  of  the  subject  can  she  select  which  will  give  the  most  effective 
training  with  the  minimum  of  expenditure?  Sewing  is  most  easily  introduced, 
because  the  implements  are  easily  procured  and  carried.  Under  this  head  the 
production  of  the  fabric  used  can  be  studied  in  addition  to  the  fashioning  of  sim- 
ple garments.  The  difference  between  cotton,  silk,  and  wool  as  a  means  of  pro- 
tection, as  to  wearing  qualities  and  the  power  to  take  and  retain  a  good  color, 
should  be  shown.  With  this  should  be  given  lessons  in  the  harmonious  blending 
of  color:  lessons  in  drawing  and  molding  such  things  as  will  inculcate  a  desire  to 
be  surrounded  by  beautiful  forms.  If  samples  of  dress  goods,  wall  papers,  and 
finished  woods  of  good  color,  design,  and  quality  be  used  when  giving  these  les- 
sons, an  interest  in  the  horns  furnishing,  the  trimming  of  hats,  and  the  making  of 
dresses  will  soon  be  awakened. 

Cooking  is  another  of  the  subjects  which  can  be  easily  introduced.  With  a 
simple  desk  equipment  of  alcohol  or  coal-oil  lamp,  a  few  knives,  spoons,  pans,  and 
forks,  which  can  be  packed  in  a  hand  bag.  much  work  can  be  done  and  an  interest 
awakened  in  the  food  supply. 

The  amount  of  water,  starch,  and  cellulose  in  a  potato  can  be  easily  shown. 
The  difference  in  the  mealiness  of  potatoes  which  have  been  pared  and  soaked  a 
long  time  in  cold  water  and  of  those  which  have  been  cooked  as  soon  as  pared  can 
also  be  shown.  When  the  children  know  that  the  starch  is  held  in  the  cellulose 
pockets  of  the  potato  and  can  be  washed  out  by  cold  water  they  will  understand 
why  there  is  this  difference.  When  they  know  that  the  starch  is  the  nutritive 
part  of  the  potato  and  that  it  is  most  abundant  in  the  outer  layers,  they  will 
remove  a  thin  paring  only  or  will  cook  it  in  the  skin. 

The  softening  and  solvent  power  of  water  on  food  can  be  shown  with  the  white 
of  egg  and  fresh  meat.  From  these  experiments  the  children  will  learn  that  by 
washing  and  soaking  fresh  meat  in  cold  water  much  of  the  flavoring  and  coloring 
material  of  the  meat  will  be  drawn  out.  Hence,  except  when  making  soup  or 
broth,  meat  should  not  be  put  into  cold  water  if  a  good  flavor  is  desired.  How  to 
keep  tender  meat  tender  and  make  tough  meat  tender  can  be  shown  by  experi- 
ments with  the  white  of  egg,  pieces  of  meat,  and  hot  water. 

The  reason  for  the  use  of  soda  and  of  baking  powder  when  making  bread  can 
also  be  shown  and  explained  by  means  of  simple  experiments,  and  when  this  is 
once  understood  better  bread  will  be  made.  An  experimental  study  of  the  use  of 
yeast  when  making  bread  is  a  more  difficult  subject,  but  by  letting  mold  grow  on 
various  articles,  then  examining  it  with  a  magnifying  glass,  the  plant  structure 
can  be  seen.  From  this  the  subject  of  the  minute,  invisible  plants  can  be  intro- 
duced. The  action  of  these  organisms  on  food  can  be  shown  by  the  souring  of 
milk  and  the  fermenting  of  fruit  juices.  The  power  of  heat  to  destroy  these  plants 
can  be  shown  by  putting  boiled  and  unboiled  grape  or  other  fruit  juice  in  steril- 
ized and  unsterilized  bottles  and  by  adding  to  different  bread  mixtures  yeast  which 
lias  been  mixed  with  boiling  water  and  yeast  which  has  been  mixed  with  luke- 
warm water.     When  the  temperature  has  been  as  great  as  that  of  boiling  water 


99 

no  change  will  be  perceptible  in  the  mixture  treated,  though  kepi  in  a  warm  room 
many  hours  for  bread  and  many  days  for  other  materials,  but  where  the  heat 
has  been  Less  than  this  a  change  will  be  apparent  in  a  few  hours  in  the  case  of 
bread  and  frail  juices.  This  will  prove  thai  the  temperature  of  boiling  water  is 
an  effective  one  for  destroying  some  of  these  organisms.  In  this  way  our  of  the 
most  important  lessons  in  the  care  of  the  dairy  and  utensils  can  be  given.  By 
such  means  the  principles  employed  in  the  preparation  of  food  can  be  very  easily 
taught  and  an  interest  awakened  in  the  home  work,  which  interest  can  be  stimu- 
lated by  giving  the  full  details  for  the  preparation  at  home  of  several  new  dishes. 

With  a  lamp  chimney,  candle,  piece  of  cardboard,  and  matches,  the  burning  of 
a  tire  in  a  stove  can  be  explained  and  a  simple  system  of  ventilation  taught. 

The  effect  of  heat,  water,  different  kinds  of  soap,  washing  powders,  and  sun- 
light on  different  fabrics  can  be  shown  by  using  them  on  small  pieces  of  goods. 
The  cause  of  so  many  of  the  rust  spots  on  clothes  is  the  imperfect  rinsing  before 
putting  them  in  the  bluing  water.  The  free  alkali  of  the  poor  soap  used  breaks 
up  the  bluing,  which  is  an  iron  compound,  and  the  iron  is  deposited  as  a  rust  spot 
on  the  goods. 

With  a  simple  kitchen  outfit,  small  coal  oil  stove,  and  oven,  all  of  which  can 
be  packed  in  a  box  and  moved  from  place  to  place  as  needed,  much  more  can  be 
taught  than  the  principles  underlying  the  preparation  of  food.  With  a  more 
elaborate  equipment  and  a  separate  room  for  the  work,  a  greater  number  of 
dishes  can  be  actually  prepared  and  served  and  the  rudiments  of  home  furnishing 
and  keeping  be  taught. 

The  next  subject  bearing  on  the  home  life  is  the  condition  of  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  the  house.  Besides  the  actual  raising  of  plants  much  can  be 
taught  about  the  soil  and  the  drainage  of  the  land  under  the  head  of  gardening. 
Here  emphasis  can  be  laid  on  the  necessity  for  having  the  well  walled  and  for 
carrying  all  waste  to  a  great  distance  from  the  house. 

From  this  brief  outline  you  will  see  that  much  can  be  done  in  the  rural  school 
by  a  Traveling  teacher  to  teach  those  things  which  will  tend  to  place  the  home 
life  on  a  higher  plane,  thereby  securing  for  the  children  who  are  to  be  born  more 
favorable  conditions  for  beginning  the  struggle  for  existence. 

There  will  of  necessity  lie  many  schools  which  such  a  teacher  can  not  reach. 
In  many  States  this  number  may  far  exceed  the  number  actually  reached.  What, 
then,  is  there  to  be  done  for  the  others? 

It  seems  to  me  the  best  thing  to  do.  and  the  thing  which  must  be  done  very 
soon,  is  to  have  this  subject  of  home  economics  taught  in  all  normal  schools  which 
prepare  teachers  for  the  country  districts;  and  to  have  it  so  taught  that  those  who 
go  from  these  places  to  the  rural  districts  will  be  able  to  at  least  lay  the  founda- 
tion for  a  broad  home  regeneration,  and  place  before  the  people  a  higher  standard 
of  living.  Much  of  the  %vork  in  the  school  can  be  so  given  as  to  direct  the  atten- 
tion to  the  home  and  business  side  of  life.  The  problems  in  arithmetic  can  be 
made  to  deal  with  the  raising,  buying,  selling,  and  using  of  farm  products:  the 
fencing  in  of  land;  laying  off  rows  for  planting,  and  many  such  things.  The  data 
for  all  this  can  and  should  be  obtained  from  actual  life.  Even  when  studying 
geography,  the  teacher  can  awaken  an  interest  in  and  show  the  relation  of  the 
home  to  the  world  by  studying  first  the  geography  of  the  immediate  section,  its 
natural  advantages,  resources,  products,  and  needs:  then  studying  the  county. 
State,  country,  and  world.  The  means  of  communication  of  section  with  section. 
the  needs  of  the  section  and  the  nearness  to  large  cities  or  markets  can  be  made 
the  basis  for  the  commercial  side  of  farm  life. 

These  children  hear  much  about  the  cow  and  the  horse.  Because  of  their  great 
usefulness  to  man  they  should  be  well  cared  for:  so  this  might  form  the  subject 
for  many  reading,  language,  and  composition  lessons,  and  will  lead  to  the  study 


100 

of  their  own  bodies,  the  structure,  nse,  and  care  of  which  is  a  most  important 
subject,  and  one  of  which  few  have  any  knowledge.  In  the  hands  of  a  skillful 
teacher  this  can  be  so  given  as  to  leave  indelible  impressions  of  the  beauty  of 
clean,  healthy,  well-cared  for  bodies:  moreover,  that  all  wrong  doing  leaves  a 
mark  which  mars  this  beauty. 

As  these  bodies  can  not  make  use  of  the  raw  material  as  do  the  horse  and  cow, 
the  preparation  of  the  food  should  then  be  studied  as  I  have  indicated  when 
speaking  of  the  desk  outfit,  and  the  work  which  can  be  done  with  it  by  the  itin- 
erant teacher. 

Instead  of  using  the  stereotyped  drawing  book,  she  can  secure  from  nature 
models  which  are  far  more  beautiful  in  form  and  color.  From  a  few  well-selected 
pictures,  bits  of  silk,  wool,  and  cotton  goods,  wall  paper,  and  upholstered  goods, 
that  idea  of  the  harmony  of  color,  the  beauty  of  simple  form  and  fitness  for  use 
can  be  taught,  which  can  be  applied  to  dress  and  house  furnishing. 

The  importance  of  hygienic  surroundings  can  best  be  taught  by  example.  The 
schoolhouse  should  be  well  placed,  well  built,  and  attractively  furnished.  Extreme 
watchfulness  will  be  required  of  the  teacher  to  keep  the  schoolroom,  yard,  and 
outbuildings  clean,  to  keep  the  water  pail  covered,  the  air  of  the  room  pure,  and 
the  general  aspect  one  of  cheerfulness.  Children  will  soon  respond  to  these  con- 
ditions and  will  of  themselves  take  part  in  maintaining  this  condition.  They  will 
soon  learn  to  pick  up  and  destroy  refuse  and  put  things  in  place,  and  woe  to  the 
comrade  who  undoes  this  work.  If  the  schoolroom  and  teacher  are  clean  and 
attractive,  the  pupils  will  want  to  go  to  school.  By  giving  an  explanation  of  and 
reason  for  the  things  which  are  done  in  the  schoolroom,  by  bringing  in  interesting 
subjects  and  arousing  their  interest  in  familiar  things,  the  pupils  will  gradually 
be  led  to  discover  the  beauty  of  many  things  which  come  within  their  daily  life, 
and  to  value  the  freedom  of  country  life.  Such  work  should  make  clear  to  them 
that  the  new  order  of  things  demands  a  higher  grade  of  intelligence  of  the  work- 
man and  that  we  should  pay  at  least  as  much  attention  to  building  up  a  sturdy, 
intelligent  race  of  people  as  we  now  pay  to  the  development  of  live  stock,  farm 
produce,  and  machinery. 

OUTFIT   FOR   THE   ITINERANT   TEACHER   OF   COOKING. 

When  the  itinerant  teacher  is  employed  for  rural  school  work  and  the  funds 
available  will  purchase  only  one  outfit,  a  central  station  and  storehouse  should  be 
selected.  At  such  place  a  full  kitchen  outfit  and  such  groceries  and  provisions  as 
will  not  perish  may  be  kept.  From, this  supply  the  teacher  may  then  select  such 
utensils  and  provisions  as  will  be  required  for  the  day's  or  week's  lessons  and  bny 
all  else  which  she  needs  at  a  point  near  the  school  or  more  convenient  for  her- 
self. Utensils  and  provisions  for  a  day's  lessons  may  be  packed  in  a  small  hand 
bag  which  can  be  easily  carried  by  the  teacher,  but  for  a  longer  term  than  this 
they  may  be  packed  in  a  box.  A  box  large  enough  to  hold  the  entire  outfit  and 
provided  with  strong  lock,  hinges,  and  rope  handles  can  be  made  for  $5.  With 
such  an  outfit  from  30  to  40  lessons  can  be  given. 

The  outfit  from  which  to  draw  the  hand-bag  supply  should  consist  of  the  following: 

2  very  strong  alcohol  stoves.  2  thin,  pointed  paring  knives. 

1  long,  thin,  pointed  knife.  2  teaspoons. 

2  tablespoons.  2  small  pie  tins. 
2  flat  wooden  spoons.  1  vegetable  dish. 

1  palette  knife.  1  platter. 

2  small  case  knives.  2  small  plates. 
2  forks.  3  sauce  dishes. 
1  small,  flat  grater.  2  custard  cups. 


101 

2  tumblers.  l  meat  chopper. 

l  toasting  Pork,  I  teapot. 

1  coffeepot.  l  knife  sharpener. 

1  lemon  reamer.  1  measuring  cap. 

1  skimmer.  1  L-pinl  freezer. 

1  fine  wire  strainer.  l  straight-side  lamp  chimney. 

1  thermometer  (400   F.)  2  yards  eheesecloth. 

1  piece  of  wire  ganze.  8  yards  of  white  crash. 

1  assorted  beakers.  6  yards  cross-barred  crash. 

2  small  scrubbing  brashes.  2  yards  brown  crash. 
1  7-inch  alnminnm  frying  pan.  2  varus  canton  flannel. 

1  breadboard  (very  small).  Several  holders. 

2  yards  white  oilcloth,  1 1  yards  wide.  Several  asbestos  she 
4  white  enameled  bowls. 
2  white  enameled  saucepans.                       I  Of  such  size  they  will  fit  one  within  the 
1  2-qnart  granite  saucepan,  with  covers 

to  tit. 


other  forming  a  nest. 


Such  an  outfit  will  cost  $10. 

For  the  box  outfit,  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  purchae 

1  one  or  two  burner  blue  flame  oil  stove.  1  oven. 

1  bread  pan.  1  rolling  pin. 

1  set  muffin  pans.  1  biscuit  cutter. 

1  cake  pan.  1  biscuit  pan. 

2  layer-cake  pans.  2  white  baking  dishes. 

This  will  make  the  cost  of  the  outfit  819  or  $20,  to  which  add  the  cost  of  the 
box  and  the  total  cost  of  the  outfit  will  be  $25. 

EIGHTEEN   LESSONS   TX   COOKING. 

1.  Making  fire:  boiling  water;  use  of  thermometer. 

2.  Boiling  potatoes.     History,  growth,  botany,  composition,  cooking,  serving. 
o.  Sweet  potatoes.     Treated  in  like  manner. 

4.  Pop  corn,  a  cereal  lesson.     Reading  of  Hiawatha  (gift  of  corn) .  botany,  com- 
position. 

5.  Corn-meal  mush.  Products  of  corn. 

6.  Blanc  mange.     Experiment  to  show  use  of  powdered  starch,  milk,  how  pro- 
duced, care  in  production. 

7.  Boiled  rice.     Samples,  growth,  composition,  cooking,  serving. 

8.  Toast.     Change  of  starch,  digestion  of  starch,  and  food  value  of  it. 

9.  Cooking  eggs,  in  shell  and  out  of  it.     Experiment  to  show  temperature  at 
which  albumen  should  be  cooked. 

10.  Omelet.     Beauregard  eggs. 

11.  A  pudding  requiring  a  custard  sauce,  to  teach  composition  of  milk. 

12.  Experiment  with  meat  to  show  loss  of  color  and  flavor  when  soaked  in  cold 
water,  and  retention  of  flavor  when  put  into  boiling  water. 

13.  Broil  steak  on  a  pan. 

14.  Griddle  cakes.     Experiment  to  show  use  of  baking  powder. 

1.").  Put  up  grape  or  other  fruit  juice.     Lesson  on  microscopic  plants. 

16.  Yeast  bread,  except  baking. 

17.  Gelatin  desserts  (3  or  4). 

18.  Tea,  coffee,  cocoa. 


102 

THE  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  AS  A  MEDIUM  FOR  DEVELOPING  THE 
MUTUAL  INTERESTS  AND  RELATIONS  OF  FARMERS  AND  THE 
UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Dr.  A.  C.  True.  Director  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations.  TJ.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture  spoke  upon  this  subject  as  follows: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  In  the  discussions  which  have  gone  on  in  this 
association  the  way  has  been  laid  for  a  briefer  presentation  of  my  subject  than  I 
had  c<  mtemplated,  for  we  have  already  gone  over  the  principles  which  are  involved 
in  cooperative  effort  between  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  farmers"  insti- 
tutes: eh  i  that  I  do  not  need  to  dwell  on  that  portion  of  my  subject,  but  simply  to 
point  out  some  ways  in  which  we  think  it  desirable  that  the  farmers"  institute 
should  be  a  medium  for  developing  the  mutual  relations  and  interests  of  farmers 
and  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

You  see  at  once  that  in  this  problem  as  stated  there  are  three  factors — the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  the  farmers,  and  the  farmers"  institute.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  as  Secretary  Wilson  clearly  pointed  out  last  evening,  has 
grown  to  be  a  very  extensive  organization.  It  has  now  on  its  rolls  something  like 
3,500  paid  employees,  and  its  appropriations  for  the  coming  fiscal  year:  exclusive 
of  the  appropriation  for  the  experiment  stations,  will  aggregate  about  s5.(i<»0.000— 
81.000,000  more  than  we  had  two  years  ago.  From  that  you  can  judge  something 
of  the  rapidity  of  the  recent  growth  of  the  Department  under  the  liberal  and 
broad-minded  administration  of  Secretary  Wilson:  and  what  some  of  us  think  is 
best  of  all  about  that  increase  is  that  it  will  go  very  largely  to  promote  the  inves- 
tigations which  the  Department  is  carrying  on  in  its  laboratories  and  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  agriculture. 

Now,  with  the  growth  of  the  Department  and  the  elaboration  of  its  service,  there 
is  some  danger  lest  it  should  not  keep  close  enough  to  the  people  for  whom  it  is 
actually  working.  Our  scientific  men.  working  in  their  laboratories  and  in  other 
ways,  are  liable  either  to  look  at  the  problems  on  which  they  are  working  in  too 
broad  and  general  a  way.  and  thus  lose  sight  of  the  particular  needs  of  the  farmers 
in  different  localities,  or  they  may  be  so  much  interested  in  the  scientific  side  of 
the  problems  on  which  they  are  working  that  they  will  forget  in  too  large  measure 
that  these  problems  are  given  them  in  order  that  they  may  work  out  something 
for  the  practical  benefit  of  farmers.  And  so  I  think,  as  regards  the  scientific 
service  of  the  Department,  we  ought  to  have  some  definite  way  by  which  the 
scientific  men  may  be  brought  in  closer  touch  with  the  practical  men  of  the 
country. 

Then,  as  regards  our  administrative  service,  which  is  all  the  time  growing  in 
importance,  there  is  danger  that  the  Department  shall  forget  that  its  prime  inter- 
est in  such  matters  is  with  reference  to  the  benefit  of  agriculture.  Its  weather 
service,  its  meat-inspection  service  and  all  other  kinds  of  administrative  service 
in  which  it  is  engaged  may.  if  we  are  not  careful,  tend  in  an  exaggerated  way  to 
help  the  commercial  and  other  interests  of  the  country,  without  so  much  refer- 
ence to  the  benefits  which  they  confer  on  agriculture.  For  this  reason,  in  order 
that  the  Department  in  its  administrative  service  may  know  what  it  should  do  to 
help  agriculture  directly.  I  would  urge  that  the  Department  needs  some  direct 
way  in  which  it  can  come  close  to  the  farmers  of  the  country. 

The  farmer,  on  the  other  hand,  needs  to  come  in  close  touch  with  the  Depart- 
ment for  a  number  of  reasons.  He  needs  to  know  what  the  Department  is  actu- 
ally doing.  That  is  every  year  becoming  a  more  difficult  thing.  I  think  most  of 
those  who  listened  last  night  to  Secretary  Wilson's  talk  on  the  Department  were 
told  a  number  of  things  about  its  work  that  they  were  not  acquainted  with  before. 
That  comment  was  made  to  me  bv  a  number  of  gentlemen  after  the  Secretary  had 


103 

finished  his  speech.      If  this  IS  true  Of  the  men  who  are  engaged   ill   sudi  work  M 

you  are  engaged  in.  how  orach  more  true  must  it  be  of  the  ordinary  farmer  in  the 
country,  who  uat  orally  would  <>nly  incidentally  come  in  contact  with  the  work  of 
the  Department.  The  farmer  needs  to  have  the  workof  the  Department  explained 
to  him:  ihat  is.  not  only  what  the  Department  is  doing,  but  what  the  meaning  of 

the  Department  work  is.     And  just  in   the  same  way  the   farmer  needs  to  have 

the  work  of  the  agricultural  college  and  experiment  station  explained  to  him. 
He  needs  to  find  out  more  definitely  in  what  ways  the  Department  may  help  him; 

and  he  should  also  have  a  greater  opportunity  to  bring  his  influence  to  bear  on 
the  work  of  the  Department  by  suggesting  lines  of  inquiry,  by  getting  a  cl< 
view  of  the  administrative  service  of  the  Department,  and  by  showing  the  Depart- 
ment how  that  administrative  service  may  be  so  directed  as  to  more  efficiently 
benefit  agriculture.  He  needs  to  be  aroused  to  greater  interest  in  the  Department, 
so  that,  when  questions  relating  to  the  Department  arise  in  Congress,  the  farmers 
of  the  country  may  take  some  active  part  in  the  discussion  and  may  help  Congress 
to  reach  the  right  decision. 

This  was  pointed  out  tome  the  other  day  in  my  office  by  Director  Henry,  of 
Wisconsin.  When  we  were  talking  about  a  new  building  for  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  he  urged  very  strongly  that  we  ought  in  some  way  to  arouse  the 
farmers  of  the  country  to  some  idea  of  the  condition  of  the  Department  with 
reference  to  its  buildings  at  present,  and  that  we  ought  to  inspire  them  with  some 
pride  in  getting  for  the  Department,  for  the  benefit  of  agriculture,  a  proper  hous- 
ing; that  in  this  and  other  ways  the  farmers  should  understand  what  the  Depart- 
ment is  doing  in  order  that  they  may  help  to  develop  the  Department. 

Now,  coming  to  the  farmers'  institute  as  the  third  factor  in  this  problem.  I 
believe  that  in  this  institution  we  have  the  best  medium  for  bringing  the  Depart- 
ment and  the  farmers  into  closer  touch,  and  I  wall  give  two  or  three  reasons  why 
I  think  so. 

In  the  first  place,  the  farmers"  institute  as  organized  in  this  country  is  a  public. 
as  distinguished  from  a  private,  organization.  We  have  a  large  number  of  volun- 
tary private  organizations,  and  they  are  doing  a  grand  work  in  various  ways  to 
aid  agriculture:  but  they  are  not,  after  all,  the  official  representatives  of  the  farm- 
ers, and  there  are  some  things  which  they  can  not  do  as  well  as  an  official  organ- 
ization like  the  farmers'  institute.  As  we  know,  the  farmers'  institutes  are  in 
different  States  organized  in  one  form  or  another  under  public  authority  and  are 
maintained  by  public  funds. 

Then.  too.  the  farmers'  institute  is  an  educational  institution.  That  is  its  whole 
business.  It  is  not  connected  with  any  political  scheme  or  any  business  matter 
outside  of  what  relates  directly  to  the  business  of  agriculture.  It  is  essentially  a 
great  school  for  the  adult  farmer,  one  which.  I  think,  constitutes  a  good  medium 
for  the  discussion  of  correct  information  regarding  the  work  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  for  bringing  the  practical  men  who  go  to  this  great  school  into 
close  touch  with  the  Department. 

Closely  connected  with  that  is  the  vital  relation  between  the  farmers'  institutes 
and  the  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment  stations.  As  the  agricultural  col- 
leges and  experiment  stations  are  connected  on  the  one  hand  with  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  so  on  the  other  they  are  connected  with  the  farmers'  insti- 
tutes, and  thus  you  have  in  a  way  a  chain  which  runs  from  the  Department 
through  the  colleges  and  stations  out  to  the  men  on  the  farms,  and  there  is  a 
direct  connection  all  along  the  line. 

Besides,  the  farmers'  institute  has  already  grown  to  be  a  very  large  institution, 
when  we  consider  the  number  of  workers  and  the  number  of  farmers  who  are  in 
attendance  on  the  institutes.  We  have  there  a  very  large  body  of  people  who 
already  constitute  a  means  for  the  diffusion  of  information  concerning  the 


104 

Department  of  Agriculture,  and  with  the  support  which  the  institutes  are  receiv- 
ing in  this  country  we  may  look  forward  confidently  to  the  time  within  a  few 
years  when  they  shall  actually  reach  the  great  mass  of  our  farmers  in  all  our 
States  and  Territories.  There  is  no  other  organization  that  has  this  broad  out- 
look, an<l  for  this  reason  I  think  the  farmers1  institute  is  the  best  medium  for 
bringing  the  work  of  the  Department  to  the  farmer. 

Now,  in  order  that  my  remarks  may  reach  a  practical  conclusion,  I  would  su.tr- 
he  following  as  an  outline  of  the  organization  for  this  work:  We  should,  in 
the  first  place,  labor  to  secure  a  more  thorough  organization  <>t'  farmers'  insti- 
tutes in  the  several  States  and  Territories.  There  are  a  number  of  States  where 
the  institutes  are  already  strongly  organized  and  are  doing  very  effective  work. 
But  looking  at  this  matter  broadly,  the  number  of  such  States  is  still  compara- 
tively small,  and  there  is  a  great  work  yet  t<>  be  done  in  more  thoroughly  organ- 
izing the  institutes  in  the  several  States  and  Territories. 

Then.  too.  I  think  we  should  have  a  more  thorough  organization  of  this  asso- 
ciation representing  the  farmers'  institute  movement,  so  that  it  may  become  more 
fully  and  truly  what  it  evidently  is  becoming,  as  indicated  by  this  meeting  here,  a 
national  and  international  organization,  which  will  bring  the  farmers*  institutes 
into  one  grand  system.  It  is  in  just  this  way  that  the  Association  of  American 
Agricultural  Colleges  and  Experiment  Stations  has  been  able  to  do  a  large  w<  >rk 
in  systematizing  and  promoting  the  work  of  the  agricultural  colleges  and  experi- 
ment stations.  This  association  may  develop  its  work  and  perform  like  functions, 
and  thus  it  will  constitute  a  great  connecting  link  between  the  Department  and 
the  farmers  through  the  institutes. 

But  beyond  that.  I  think  we  should  have  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
what  may  be  called  a  clearing-house  for  the  farmers'  institute  movement.  This 
association  does  a  great  work  in  bringing  all  the  workers  together  and  in  sending 
out  inspiration  which  reaches  to  the  farthest  limits  of  the  farmers"  institute 
work.  But  this  association  holds  only  an  annual  meeting  and  its  influence  is 
limited  for  that  reason  in  a  very  considerable  degree.  But  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  is  doing  business  every  day  in  the  year,  except  Sundays,  and  if  we 
had  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  a  regular  agency  to  promote  the  farmers' 
institute  work  we  might  be  all  the  time  operating  in  this  line. 

The  benefit  of  such  a  thing.  I  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  say.  can  be  seen 
by  what  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  has  been  able  to  do  in  connection 
with  those  stations:  that  is.  without  having  any  authority  to  speak  of.  simply  by 
coming  in  touch  with  the  experiment  stations  and  by  doing  various  things  which 
would  help  them,  we  have  been  able  to  do  considerable,  as  I  think  everyone  will 
agree,  to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  stations  and  to  make  the  movement  for 
agricultural  research  more  permanent  and  more  effective. 

So  I  think,  on  that  model,  we  could  build  this  which  I  have  called  a  clearing 
house  for  the  farmers'  institute  movement,  and  thus  we  would  have  an  agency 
which  would  not  in  the  least  interfere  with  the  autonomy  of  the  farmers'  insti- 
tute organization  in  the  several  States,  but  would  be  simply  a  cooperative  agency 
working  in  any  way  that  it  could  to  promote  the  general  interests  of  these 
institutes 

I  have  several  times  briefly  outlined  some  things  which  might  be  done  by  the 
Department .  and  yet  it  may  be  useful  if  I  briefly  call  your  attention  to  what  it 
seems  to  me  the  Department,  through  its  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  (for  that 
is  the  most  natural  branch  of  the  Department  for  work  in  this  line)  might  do  to 
help  the  farmers'  institute  movement  in  this  country. 

First,  we  can  do  a  good  deal  by  collating  and  publishing  information  regarding 
the  institute  movement  at  home  and  abroad;  for  of  course  we  all  know  that  not 
only  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  but  in  many  other  countries,  there  is  a 


105 

great  movement  which  corresponds  to  our  farmers'  institute  movement  in  the 
United  States.  Our  people,  and  especially  our  institute  workers,  otighl  to  know 
about  that,  and  could,  I  am  sure,  gel  benefit  from  the  collating  and  publishing  of 
such  information.  The  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  has  done  some  of  this 
work,  hut  it  lias  nut  been  able  to  do  very  much.  I  would  Buggesl  that  the  wori 
should  be  done  in  a  regular  way  and  with  definite  reference  to  the  i la  of  insti- 
tute work  in  this  country. 

We  can  aid  the  institutes  by  regularly  furnishing  the  institute  workers  with  the 
Department  publications  and  with  information  through  correspondence.  Thi-.  as 
you  all  know,  is  already  done  to  a  considerable  extent;  but  it  may  he.  [  am  sure, 
much  more  efficiently  and  thoroughly  done  by  having  in  the  Department  a  regu- 
lar agency  for  this  work.  If  such  an  agency  were  established,  the  institute  work- 
era  would  undoubtedly  appeal  to  the  Department  with  much  more  freedom,  in 
just  the  same  way  that  the  officers  of  the  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment 
stations  have  now  got  into  the  habit  of  appealing  to  the  Department  for  assist- 
ance in  all  sorts  of  ways. 

Then.  too.  the  institute  workers  should  he  made  to  understand  that  they  are 
always  welcome  to  come  to  the  Department,  and.  by  residenc  '  at  Washington  for 
a  longer  or  a  shorter  time,  enjoy  opportunities  for  acquiring  information  through 
pi  rsbnal  contact  with  the  officers  of  the  Department,  the  use  of  its  library,  etc. 
As  many  of  you  know,  there  is  a  growing  number  of  officers  of  the  agricultural 
colleges  and  experiment  stations  who  expect  to  come  to  Washington  quite  often 
and  spend  some  time  in  seeing  what  the  Department  is  doing,  in  going  into  its 
laboratories,  observing,  as  far  as  may  be  feasible,  how  its  operations  are  carried 
on.  and  in  this  way  getting  into  close  touch  with  the  work.  In  some  such  way  as 
that.  I  think,  by  proper  organization,  the  conductors  and  workers  in  farmers' 
institutes  might  be  helped  in  their  work. 

The  Department  may  also  help  the  institutes  by  advising  and  assisting  the  insti- 
tute managers  with  reference  to  perfecting  the  organization  and  advancing  the 
work  in  particular  places.  This  maybe  done  by  conferences  between  the  indi- 
vidual managers  and  the  officers  of  the  Department  who  are  definitely  studying 
the  problems  of  the  institute  movement,  largely  through  observations  made  in 
different  States  and  Territories  and  in  foreign  countries. 

I  think  it  is  agreed  that  one  of  the  most  useful  things  that  the  Office  of  Experi- 
ment Stations  has  done  has  been  to  send  its  representatives  from  time  to  time  to 
visit  personally  the  institutions  in  different  States  and  in  other  countries,  and 
thus  to  get  an  immediate  view  of  the  work,  so  that  as  wTe  come  in  contact  with 
the  station  officers  in  different  places  we  can  bring  to  them  the  information  and 
experience  which  we  have  gained  by  this  wide  outlook  of  the  problems  relating  to 
the  organization  of  the  work  of  the  experiment  stations.  In  a  similar  way  I  think 
we  might  do  useful  service  if  we  had  somebody  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
■who  could  go  around  and  consult  with  the  farmers'  institute  managers  at  different 
places. 

There  are  some  States  where  there  is  very  little,  if  any.  farmers'  institute  work 
now  done.  The  people  do  not  understand  what  the  movement  really  means. 
The  legislatures  do  not  comprehend  what  is  needed  to  set  the  movement  on  its 
feet.  An  officer  of  the  Department  could  easily  help  to  establish  institutes  on  a 
permanent  basis  in  such  regions  by  going  there  and  consulting  with  the  influential 
people  in  the  community. 

Then  I  think  the  Department  may  help  the  institutes  more  largely  than  in  the 
past  by  sending  out  lecturers  to  address  representative  institutes  in  different 
States  on  the  work  of  the  Department.  Thus  far  the  Department  has  trusted 
very  largely,  you  know,  to  its  publications  for  the  dissemination  of  the  informa- 
tion which  it  gathers,  and  which  has  grown  to  be  very  large  in  extent  and  variety. 


1 


106 

It  would  hardly  he  practicable  under  any  conditions  for  the  Department  to  be 
represented  in  the  institutes  generally  in  the  United  States,  there  being  now.  I 
suppose,  Borne  2,500  institutes  held  in  a  single  year  throughout  the  country. 
But  I  think  it  would  be  practicable  for  the  Department  to  be  represented  at 
the  round-up  institutes  and  at  other  institutes  where  representative  workers 
from  all  over  the  individual  States  are  gathered  together.  In  this  way  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Department  would  be  extended  and  its  officers  would  have  opportuni- 
ties which  they  now  lack  for  finding  out  what  the  farmers  really  desire  to  have 
the  Department  do  for  their  benefit. 

And  lastly,  to  repeat  by  way  of  summing  up  what  I  have  already  said.  I  think 
the  Department  may  act  as  a  clearing  house  for  the  farmers"  institute  movement, 
so  that  it  would  be  a  center  for  the  focalization  and  dissemination  of  information 
and  influences  which  would  serve  to  develop  farmers*  institutes  and  make  them 
a  more  efficient  means  for  the  education  of  our  farmers  and  the  improvement  of 
our  agriculture. 

With  these  objects  in  mind,  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  asked  Congress  at  its 
last  session  to  add  to  the  appropriation  for  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations 
$5,000,  which  might  be  used  to  help  the  farmers"  institutes.  Congress  cut  the 
amount  in  two.  This  was  done  at  the  last  moment,  even  after  the  lull  had  actually 
passed  both  Houses,  in  order  to  correct  what  was  euphoniously  called  a  "  clerical 
mistake.**  So  that  instead  of  having  $5,000,  which  we  hoped  to  have,  we  have 
just  about  half  that  amount. 

This  makes  it  somewhat  of  a  puzzle  for  us  to  know  just  what  is  best  to  do. 
We  can.  of  course,  begin  to  do  something  this  year  with  that  amount  of  money, 
but  if  Congress  should  not  increase  the  appropriation  it  would  be  difficult  for  us 
to  carry  on  the  work  with  any  efficiency,  for  we  ought  to  have  at  least  one  good 
man.  and  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  we  ought  not  to  offer  any  less  salary  than 
85.000  for  such  a  position.  That  amount  I  regard  as  the  minimum.  Then  he 
must  have  some  clerical  assistance,  for  I  am  sure  his  correspondence  would 
speedily  get  to  be  a  large  one.  And  he  must  have  money  which  would  enable 
him  to  travel  about  the  country.  So  that  with  expenses  for  this  and  other  inci- 
dental purposes,  you  can  see  that  $2,500  would  be  inadequate,  even  on  the  crudest 
basis,  for  this  work. 

I  believe,  however,  that,  all  things  considered,  it  will  be  best  for  the  Depart- 
ment to  undertake  to  do  something.  That.  I  am  sure,  is  Secretary  Wilson's  prin- 
ciple of  action,  for  he  has  told  me  over  and  over  again  that  the  way  to  get  work 
started  and  get  Congress  to  do  things  was  to  begin  to  do  them.  So  I  hope  that 
during  the  fiscal  year  on  which  we  are  just  about  to  enter  we  shall  definitely  take 
up  this  work  in  the  Department  and  begin  its  organization.  And  as  we  start  out 
we  feel  that  we  need  the  counsel  and  help  of  the  managers  and  workers  in  the 
institutes.  I  hope,  indeed  I  feel  sure,  that  we  can  rely  on  this  association  to  give 
us  the  help  we  need,  in  order  that  we  may  get  a  good  agent  to  conduct  this  work 
and  in  order  that  we  may  lay  the  lines  of  work  in  the  wisest  and  best  directions. 

This  year,  without  special  authority  and  simply  through  an  interchange  of 
courtesies  with  this  association,  the  Department  undertook  to  print  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  association,  and  they  have.  I  think,  been  quite  thoroughly  distrib- 
uted. We  would  like  to  continue  that  arrangement,  and  on  conference  with  the 
officers  of  the  association  the  Department  has  undertaken  to  get  a  stenographic 
report  of  the  proceedings,  and  if  desired  by  the  association  will  publish  them,  as 
it  did  before.  If  you  should  decide  that  this  is  the  best  thing  for  us  to  do,  we 
should  like  to  get  some  definite  ideas  with  reference  to  the  number  of  copies  which 
you  would  need.  Doubtless  your  officers  will  take  up  that  question  in  connection 
with  others  relating  to  the  details  of  this  business,  and  I  need  not  occupy  your 
attention  longer  with  these  matters. 


107 
W.  C.  Latta,  of  Indiana.  I  am  in  hearty  accord  with  the  views  expressed  by 

Dr.  True.  Nothing  but  good  to  agriculture  can  conic  from  a  closer  union  and  a 
clearer  understanding  between  the  farmers  and  the  national  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. The  latter  Call  not  do  its  best  work  for  the  farmers  without  their  intelli- 
gent cooperation  and  loyal  support.  The  best  interests  of  the  farmers  can  not  be 
fully  subserved  without  the  effective  assistance  of  t  he  I  )epart  nieiit  of  Agriculture. 
From  whatever  standpoint  we  view  the  question  the  conclusion  is  clear  that  the 
farmers  and  the  national  Department  of  Agriculture  should  be  in  the  closest 
touch,  and  that  each  should  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  needs  of  the  other 
and  the  possibilities  of  being  mutually  helpful. 

The  farmers'  institute  is  the  one  great  agency  at  the  present  time  for  bringing 
the  national  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  farmers  of  the  United  States 
together  on  a  basis  of  effective  cooperation.  Although  the  truth  of  this  statement 
is  apparent  at  once,  it  is  a  question  whether  institute  workers  have  always  in  the 
past  worked  as  intelligently  and  as  effectively  to  this  end  as  the  interests  involved 
would  warrant.  Shall  we  not  in  future,  as  institute  superintendents,  conductors, 
and  speakers,  strive  to  bring  more  closely  together,  not  only  the  farmers  and  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  but  also  the  farmers  and  the  experiment  stations. 
the  farmers  and  the  agricultural  colleges,  the  farmers  and  the  agricultural  fair 
associations,  the  farmers  and  the  agricultural  press.  Their  interests  are  mutual, 
their  cause  is  common,  but  the  work  to  be  done  is  great  and  very  arduous.  There 
is  much  inertia  to  overcome,  and  in  some  quarters  ignorance,  indifference,  and 
misunderstandings  to  be  removed. 

The  farmers'  institute  can  and  should  be  a  great  enlightening  and  cementing 
agency  to  bring  together  in  harmonious  working  relations  the  several  great  insti- 
tutions for  the  betterment  of  agriculture.  With  an  intelligent  setting  forth  at 
the  farmers' institutes  of  the  mutual  interests  of  farmers  and  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  a  clear  pointing  out  of  the  many  ways  in  which  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  is  serving  the  farmers,  the  ends  sought  in  Dr.  True's  address 
may  be  attained. 

I  certainly  approve  of  the  efforts  of  our  Secretary  of  Agriculture  and  his  colleagues 
to  establish  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  an  agency  to  promote  the  farmers1 
institutes  similar  to  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations.  I  believe  that  an  effective 
officer,  working  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  could  glean 
and  disseminate  much  information  that  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  institute 
workers  throughout  the  country.  Such  an  officer  in  correspondence  with  the 
State  superintendents  or  directors  of  farmers'  institutes  could  doubtless  arrange 
for  the  employment  in  many  sections  of  the  country  of  speakers  whose  wide  range 
of  observation  and  travel  would  fit  them  peculiarly  for  the  discussion  of  certain 
questions  at  farmers'  institutes. 

Speakers  of  this  stamp  would,  as  a  rule,  not  be  available  to  the  State  institute 
directors  acting  independently.  One  of  the  urgent  needs  of  the  farmers  is  a 
broader  view.  The  fact  that  thousands  upon  thousands  of  farmers  are  blissfully 
unaware  of  this  need  makes  it  all  the  more  urgent  that  they  have  opportunity 
from  time  to  time  to  extend  their  social,  business,  and  political  horizon. 

I  trust  that  the  efforts  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  this  direction  may 
prove  entirely  successful. 

THE  RELATION  OF  RAILROADS  TO  AGRICULTURE. 

The  following  paper  on  this  subject  by  M.  V.  Richards.  Industrial  Agent 
Southern  Railway,  was  read: 

The  farmers  of  the  country  generally  have  awakened  to  a  true  sense  of  the 
importance  of  schools  and  colleges  for  the  education  of  their  children.  But  they 
must  also  awake  to  the  necessity  of  schools  for  themselves,  not  schools  of  litera- 


108 

ture.  of  Greek  and  Latin,  for  these  subjects  belong  to  the  boyfl  and  the  girls  who 
nowadays  arc  perfectly  willing  and  able  to  show  off  by  exhibiting  themselves 
creditably  on  commencement  day.  Bnt  there  is  another  kind  of  scliool.no  less 
worthy  of  support,  which  I  will  call  the  "  farmers"  college."  This  school  is  the 
formers1  institute,  and.  in  my  judgment,  it  is  the  very  best  practical  educator  the 
farmer  can  have.  It  assembles  together  in  the  closest  touch  and  intimacy  men  of 
different  ideas,  each  man  a  specialist,  perhaps,  who  has  given  laborious  time. 
thought,  and  money  in  experiment,  in  demonstration,  in  perfecting.  The 
exchange  of  these  ideas,  these  separate  experiences,  results  in  this,  that  each  mem- 
ber  goes  home  with  a  treasury  of  hard-earned  practical  knowledge.  His  own 
ideas  have  been  broadened  where  they  have  been  right  ones,  and  where  his  own 
ideas  have  been  wrong  he  is  enlightened  by  hearing  that  the  experiment  upon 
which  he  had  intended  to  expend  time  and  labor  and  money  had  already  been 
tried  and  found  wanting  in  fruitful  results.  In  the  institute  every  man  is  a 
scholar  and  at  the  same  time  a  teacher.  The  fire  of  questions,  the  statements  of 
fact,  the  narrative  of  personal  experiences,  the  explanations  of  cause  and  effect, 
all  tend  to  rouse  his  thinking  faculties,  strengthen  his  judgment,  and  encourage 
him  to  better  effort.  He  abandons  antiquated  ways  and  adopts  modern  methods 
or  induces  his  neighbor  to  do  so.  Markets  are  discussed,  new  uses  art-  found  for 
by-products,  the  propagation  of  plants,  the  treatment  of  fruit,  the  cure  of  plant 
diseases,  the  eradication  or  prevention  of  insects,  and  a  thousand  other  subjects 
and  topics  for  the  farmer's  practical  enlightenment  in  this  temple  of  learning 
send  him  forth  better  equipped  than  ever  for  the  work  of  development  and  the 
improvement  of  his  condition. 

The  railroads  are  the  natural  and  the  necessary  friends  of  husbandry.  They 
are  in  direct  and  constant  sympathy  with  whatever  tends  to  elevate  it.  to  make  it 
more  progressive,  to  render  its  pursuit  more  profitable.  The  railroads  believe 
implicitly  in  the  great  good  that  can  be  achieved  through  farmers"  institutes,  and 
their  interest  in  them  is  therefore  as  practical  as  it  is  sincere.  This  could  not  be 
otherwise,  since  the  success  of  the  railways  depends  so  largely  upon  the  success 
of  the  farmer.  Now.  the  success  of  both  depends  upon  intelligent,  practical 
effort,  and  this  is  possible  only  through  frequent  communion  among  those  who 
have  a  common  interest  or  follow  the  same  pursuits.  The  farmers*  institute  is 
the  farmer's  granary  of  knowledge,  whence  each  single  member  carries  forth 
with  him.  back  to  his  farm  and  his  family,  the  farm  wisdom  of  a  hundred  others 
who.  like  himself,  are  honorably  seeking  their  own  betterment.  The  production  of 
the  farm  increases,  the  value  of  farm  lands  is  enhanced,  and  eventually  the  rail- 
roads are  benefited  by  the  increased  tonnage  to  be  carried.  Thus  the  prosperity 
of  the  railroads  is  inseparable  from  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer,  and  their  relations 
are  as  a  bond  of  union,  compelling  them,  in  their  own  interests,  to  aid  each  other 
and  to  do  no  wrong  toward  each  other. 

I  have  the  honor  of  representing  one  of  the  systems  of  railroads  radiating 
through  a  vast  territory,  one  whose  lines  extend  in  many  and  various  directions 
for  many  thousands  of  miles,  through  ten  States  rich  in  agricultural  possibilities 
and  resources,  capable  of  sustaining  in  thrift  and  plenty  many  times  the  present 
farming  population.  But  as  the  country  advances  in  wealth,  population,  intelli- 
gence, and  needs,  the  demands  upon  the  farmers  become  rapidly  greater  and  more 
exacting.  The  farmer  must  no  more  be  " behind  the  times"  than  the  scientist, 
the  manufacturer,  the  merchant:  he  must  be  wide-awake,  expansive,  and  super- 
intelligent  in  his  own  line  of  business.  He  can  not  become  so  by  communing  with 
himself  nor  by  thinking  out  alone  some  problem  or  theory  for  himself.  No  man 
has  ideas  numerous  enough  or  big  enough  to  enable  him  to  stand  alone  or  work 
alone.  Ideas  are  things  to  be  shared  and  to  be  compared,  and  there  is  no  other 
plan,  method,  or  opportunity  so  certainly  beneficial  or  sufficient  to  enable  the 


109 

farmer  bo  reach  these  heights  of  intelligence  and  this  degree  of  effectives 
through  the  institute.     It-  influence,  acting  through  him,  determines  the  growth 
of  his  section  and  makes  the  farmer  himself  a  more  influential  man  and  factor  in 
tlic  community. 

Such,  then,  is  the  importance  and  consequence  of  the  farmers' institute  thai  I 
believe  il  will  eventually  become  an  institution  of  national  importance;  that  ere 
long  institutes  will  beheld  regularly  in  every  county  served  by  the  Southern  Rail- 
way. We  will  even  hope  that  in  time  all  sections  of  the  Union  may  have  their 
institutes  and  enjoy  die  fruits  of  Bnch  meetings.  For.  I  repeal  it.  the  advantages 
gained  by  such  intercourse  of  farmers  and  such  interchange  of  experiences,  knowl- 
edge, and  ideas  can  not  he  overestimated.  And  I  earnestly  want  every  tanner  who 
dwells  within  the  sound  of  a  Southern  Railway  whistle  to  charge  himself  with 
the  duty  of  attending  these  meetings,  the  duty  of  helping  to  organize  these  insti- 
tutes, the  duty  of  supporting  them  in  their  noble  and  beneficent  purpose.  Not 
only  will  they  make  better  farmers  of  you.  but  they  will  give  you  the  means  of 
teaching  your  children  to  farm  according  to  advanced  methods,  and  you  could 
not  give  them  a  better  heritage  than  this  knowledge  along  with  the  old  farm. 

AGRICULTURE  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS. 

A  paper  on  this  subject  by  E.  P.  Powell,  of  Yew  York,  was  read  as  follows: 

( 1 )  The  rural  school  should  be  a  town  school.  The  old  district  school  was  never 
intended  for  anything  but  a  makeshift  while  New  England  was  pioneering  west- 
ward. The  lack  of  transportation  in  those  days  made  it  necessary  to  cut  up  large 
towns  into  small  districts;  this  is  no  longer  necessary.  The  town  unit  is  the 
Anglo-Saxon  unit,  and  it  is  the  best  thing  ever  devised  for  affairs  of  church  or 
state  or  school.  In  this  town,  or  township,  the  school  should  be  the  center  of 
influence,  with  the  church  as  coadjutor.  In  fact,  in  most  of  our  towns,  school- 
house  and  church  should  be  one.  The  superintendent  should  be  the  most  influen- 
tial authority  in  the  community.  President  Harper  of  Chicago  University  com- 
plains that,  as  things  are.  superintendents  have  little  or  no  authority,  and  are 
chiefly  statisticians.  The  towni  center  used  to  be  the  church:  it  is  now  the  saloon 
or  the  pool  room.  The  reconstructed  town  must  be  the  intellectual  and  moral 
forces  combined,  and  all  concentered  at  the  schoolhouse.  District  schools  are 
vanishing  because  they  have  fulfilled  their  purpose.  At  present  only  about  one 
hundred  private  academies  are  left  in  New  York  State,  and  not  a  half  dozen  of 
them  have  any  influence  on  educational  ideas  or  work.  Organize  your  town 
schools  and  you  can  then  have  as  good  teachers  as  they  have  in  the  cities;  prob- 
ably better. 

(2)  The  second  fact  that  our  times  abut  against  is  that  we  must  have  a  new 
sort  of  school  building  for  the  country.  We  are  building  too  expensively:  but 
worse  yet.  we  are  putting  up  imitations  of  city  buildings.  There  should  never 
be  a  two-story  schoolhouse.  unless  land  is  $50  a  front  foot.  We  have  land  enough, 
everywhere  among  our  farms,  for  every  room  to  be  on  the  ground  floor,  with 
light  let  in  joyously  and  abundantly  from  above.  Yon  make  a  vital  mistake 
when  you  try  to  make  your  schoolhouse  an  example  of  fine  art.  surrounded 
by  a  fmished-up  landscape.  The  country  should  never  imitate  the  city  at  all. 
The  city  is  a  limited  field,  under  art  compulsions.  There  is  no  freedom  nor 
breadth  in  city  life.  It  has  to  be  beautiful  and  useful  within  certain  roles.  The 
country,  on  the  contrary,  is  God's  home  of  freedom.  The  rural  school  should  be, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  a  simple,  wholesome,  neat  supplement  of  our  homes.  Let 
the  grounds  be  for  the  education  of  the  children,  and  last  of  all  things  should  be 
the  sign  ''Keep  off  the  grass."  Your  dandy  schoolhouses  straight  lace  the  pupils 
and  make  them  contemptuous  of  homes  that  are  less  artful. 


110 

(3)  It  follows  that  agriculture  should  be  directly  taught  to  the  children  of  agri- 
culturists. Agriculture  is  once  more  assuming  its  place  of  honor  among  the  indus- 
tries. The  telephone  will  soon  have  connected  our  remotest  farms  with  the  cen- 
ters <  if  civilization.  The  trolley  will  carry  our  market  produce  as  well  as  ourselves; 
it  will  displace  our  dirt  roads  and  our  heavy  wagons:  it  will  cobweb  the  whole 
country.  The  trolley  plant  will  give  us  power  to  light  and  to  heat  our  houses  and 
barns  and  to  run  our  machinery.  Meanwhile  the  cities  are  spreading  out,  with 
rapid  transportation,  and  are  carrying  wealth  and  taste  for  a  more  equal  distribu- 
tion. To  enable  us  to  hold  our  place,  the  place  that  the  age  insists  on  giving  us, 
we  must  as  farmers  be  thoroughly  educated,  and  educated  as  farmers.  We  must 
make  it  possible  to  furnish  from  the  ranks  of  farmers  such  statesmen  as  Farmer 
Jefferson,  the  finest  scholar  of  his  age. 

But  when  we  say  teach  agriculture,  we  say  a  very  inclusive  thing.  It  may  even 
sometimes  include  Latin  or  German  or  any  other  study  that  aids  the  boy  or  girl 
in  getting  at  the  facts  and  truths  of  nature — anything  whatever  that  gives  him 
ability  to  carry  on  personal  investigation.  No  industry  on  earth  needs  and  must 
have  a  broader  and  better  training.  The  farmer  does  not  get  behind  a  counter,  to 
measure  dry  goods  or  price  hardware  all  day,  every  day;  he  goes  into  the  fields  to 
create  new  things,  to  fight  with  countless  subtle  foes  for  the  possession  of  the 
earth.  His  productions  outreach  the  United  States,  to  capture  the  markets  of  the 
world.  He  must  know  not  only  how  to  produce  the  largest  amount  from  a  given 
space,  but  how  to  furnish  the  most  perfect  possible  products.  He  must  know 
bugs  and  beetles  or  he  will  be  whipped  by  them.  He  must  know  cattle  or  he  will 
be  a  servant  of  his  own  beasts.  That  "clod-jumper  "  is  not  a  farmer  at  all,  who 
has  studied  in  your  schools  for  a  dozen  years,  yet  knows  nothing  of  the  vast  popu- 
lation that  occupies  the  land  with  him,  who  does  not  know  one  bird  from  another, 
and  to  whom,  as  one  of  your  commissioners  of  agriculture  said,  '"A  cow  is  only  a 
board-faced  animal.''  Our  lawmakers  must  come  from  the  farm;  but  before 
that  our  farm  boys  must  be  educated  to  comprehend  that  there  is  no  industry  on 
earth  comparable  with  that  of  land  tillage.  Those  who  do  not  understand  the 
economics  of  production  are  unfit  to  legislate  concerning  the  distribution  of 
products. 

Farming  should  be  the  aim  and  end  of  education  in  rural  schools.  That  does 
not  mean,  however,  that  these  schools  should  teach  solely  the  art  of  cultivating 
plants.  Rural  schools  should  be  broadened  and  not  narrowed.  You  can  not 
broaden  them  by  teaching  how  to  grow  beets  and  spray  apple  trees,  unless  with 
this  you  give  our  boys  and  girls  a  knowledge  of  language  and  of  history.  Lan- 
guage is  a  mind  tool;  a  hoe  is  a  hand  tool.  They  must  go  together.  God  knew 
how  to  make  a  man  when  he  put  one  head  on  top  but  one  hand  on  each  side. 
They  go  together;  they  must  cooperate;  they  should  be  educated  together.  Agri- 
culture is  the  one  industry  that  has  close  relations  with  all  the  sciences.  You  can 
not  be  a  good  farmer  unless  you  are  in  some  measure  a  botanist,  a  geologist,  an 
entomologist:  you  will  be  a  better  farmer  for  being  well  up  in  ornithology  and  in 
landscape  gardening.  And  I  will  say  farther,  that  you  should  never  own  an  acre 
until  you  have  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  great  purpose  of  agriculture,  which  is 
not  simply  to  fill  your  pockets  and  your  stomach,  but  to  benefit  the  world.  When 
a  man  knows  the  God  of  the  orchard,  and  how  nature  has  made  out  of  the  poten- 
tilla — a  little  weed — the  apple,  the  pear,  and  the  plum,  and  the  apricot,  and  the 
peach,  and  the  strawberry,  and  the  raspberry,  and  the  blackberry,  he  will  begin  to 
be  fit  to  work  at  the  same  great  problem  of  evolution.  When  he  knows  the  God 
who  planted  the  ' '  garden  eastward  in  Eden  '  *  he  will  be  fit  himself  to  be  a  gar- 
dener, and  he  will  know  enough,  if  it  be  possible,  to  give  his  own  garden  a  slope 
to  the  eastward.  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  necessary  for  a  farmer  to  believe  in  a 
religious  creed,  but  it  is  essential  for  him  to  believe  and  know  that  he,  above  all 


Ill 

men,  is  working  with  the  Creator  for  the  progressive  development  of  nature.  He 
should  know  thai  he  is  under  obligation  to  create  the  beautiful  and  the  good,  as 
well  as  the  useful.  If  the  nineteenth  centnry  prodnced  astoniahing  results  in  the 
way  of  new  fruits  and  flowers,  the  twentieth  must  do  better.  So  yon  Bee  that 
when  1  say  fanning  is  to  be  the  aim  and  end  of  rural  school  education  I  mean 
something  aoble  and  grand,  something  worthy  of  the  ambition  of  an  educated 
American,  something  infinitely  better  than  can  be  offered  by  the  city. 

( \)  Therefore  every  country  schoolhonse  should  be  planted  in  the  middle  of  not 
less  than  i  to  5  acres  of  Land.  Associated  with  it. and  a  part  of  the  school,  should 
be  a  thoroughly  furnished  workshop,  and  an  operative  kitchen.    <  me  half  of  each 

day  should  be  spent  indoors,  studying  the  investigations  of  others:  and  the  other 
half  should  be  spent  out  of  doors  orin  the  shop  or  kitchen,  learning  how  to  inves- 
tigate personally  and  originally.    Books  half  a  day,  and  tools  half  a  day.     Brain 

work  one-half  the  day.  and  handwork  one-half  the  day.  In  this  way  study  will 
be  steadily  applied,  as  fast  as  it  is  acquired — mathematics  to  surveying,  botany 
and  entomology  to  horticulture,  grammar  to  pleasant  expression  and  exact  com- 
munication. There  is  no  one  thing  that  we  need  more  to  apprehend  than  that  the 
end  of  education  is  not  the  acquisition  of  facts.  A  man  so  educated  is  rendered 
utterly  helpless,  unless  he  can  find  another  brain  into  which  he  can  pour  what  he 
has  accumulated.  The  school  lot  should  be  rich  soil,  well  drained,  and  healthy. 
The  shop  should  be  furnished  not  only  with  agricultural  tools,  but  with  jack 
planes,  saws,  and  chisels;  with  turning  lathes,  and  a  good  gasoline  engine — unless 
power  can  be  had  from  an  electric  light  plant  or  a  trolley  plant.  A  town  is  not 
decently  organized  that  owns  a  schoolhouse  but  has  no  power  that  it  can  furnish 
to  heat  and  light  and  serve  its  own  buildings.  The  garden  school  is  to  be  the 
school  of  the  future.  As  an  ideal  it  is  already  finding  shape  in  England  and  in 
Germany—''  a  school  in  the  country,  where  hardihood  of  life  can  be  cultivated,  and 
where  life  is  simple  and  varied;  a  school  where  masters  lead  a  common  life  with 
the  boys,  working  at  gardening  or  plowing  as  well  as  with  books.  In  such  a 
school,  work  consists  of  interchange  of  occupation — continuous  but  varied;  some 
lighter,  some  severer;  some  taxing  muscle,  and  some  brain.  In  such  a  school 
there  is  established  a  collective,  corporate  life,  in  wThich  each  member  learns  self- 
reliance,  individual  responsibility,  and  constant  adjustment  of  the  relation  of  self 
to  other  people.  The  virtue  that  here  grows  up  will  not  be  negative — constrained 
by  external  force — but  active  virtue  that  springs  from  having  lived  in  a  well- 
organized  community. ' ?  I  am  quoting  from  a  description  of  a  school  at  Ilsenburg. 
in  Germany.  I  hold  that  every  country  school  may  be  essentially  of  this  sort. 
The  sexes  of  course  should  be  together.  The  kitchen  should  be  as  much  used  as 
the  shop.  A  boy  with  a  knack  for  it  should  study  cooking  quite  as  surely  as  B 
girl  may  learn  to  handle  horses  and  care  for  sheep  and  cows.  God  has  supplied 
for  both  sexes  the  same  facts.  There  is  not  one  rule  of  three  for  the  girl  and 
another  for  the  boy.  The  ten  commandments  and  the  golden  rule  are  for  both 
and  alike. 

(5)  The  farmer's  school  has  also  some  things  to  get  rid  of.  In  the  first  place  it 
must  get  rid  of  strait-jackets  and  prison  discipline.  A  schoolhouse  should  be 
a  beehive,  full  of  free  and  happy  intercommunication.  That  is  no  study  at  all 
which  shuts  a  child  up  with  a  book  of  a  dull  sort  out  of  which  he  is  compelled  t> » 
dig  a  dose  of  facts.  The  meanest  jailer  I  ever  saw  sat  behind  a  desk  in  the  little 
red  schoolhouse,  with  a  hickory  ruler  in  his  hand,  after  writing  on  the  black- 
board, '*  Whoever  whispers  shall  be  punished."  Such  buildings  should  be  under- 
stood to  be  just  what  they  are — places  for  the  suppression  of  childhood,  the 
abolition  of  human  nature,  places  to  breed  cheats  and  liars  and  lawbreakers. 
The  children  should  be  not  only  permitted  to  communicate,  but  encouraged  to  do 
so.    Froebel  asks  why  we  can  not  give  the  child  that  which  is  called  education 


112 

through  his  voluntary  activities  and  have  him  always  as  eager  as  he  is  at  play. 
One  more  thing  should  be  abolished,  not  only  from  our  farm  schools,  bnt  from 
every  school.  I  mean  every  method  and  accompaniment  that  produces  nerve 
exhaustion.  Above  all.  competitive  examinations  should  be  forbidden  in  any 
common  BChoo]  of  the  Republic.  Our  nerve  breakdown  is  not  due.  all  of  it.  to 
bad  habit-,  nor  to  stimulants  and  narcotics;  nor  is  it  due  to  the  pressure  and 
anxiety  of  business  affairs.  It  is.  in  a  much  greater  degree,  due  to  school  train- 
ing. We  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  graduating  wrecks.  Someone  has  said 
that  the  first  thing  to  do  with  a  child,  especially  with  a  girl,  is  to  make  of  her  a 
splendid  animal.  He  is  right,  for  you  can  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  wholesome. 
intellectual  training  where  bodily  vigor  is  lacking.  What  will  you  do  without 
examinations'.-  I  reply,  take  the  word  of  the  teacher.  A  teacher  that  is  good  for 
anything  knows  better  than  a  dozen  examining  boards  whether  a  girl  or  boy  is 
fit  to  be  advanced.  It  is  an  outrage  to  put  the  weak  and  the  diseased  into  a 
furious  competition  with  the  stronger  to  see  which  is  best  stuffed  with  facts. 
This  makes  it  a  question  of  the  stomach  and  not  of  the  brain:  a  question  of 
digestion  and  not  of  real  scholarship.  Finally,  we  should  forbid  the  seating  of 
children,  even  on  the  best  patented  seats  in  the  world,  over  One  hour  at  a  time. 
To  most  of  them  it  is  torture:  to  those  who  are  patient  it  is  a  symptom  of  disease. 
Pupils  should  be  permitted  and  directed  to  walk  about  as  they  study.  Recess,  of  the 
old-fashioned  sort,  should  occur  at  least  twice  in  the  half  day.  Fifteen  minutes  of 
play  should  follow  one  hour  of  study.  The  school  lunch  should  occupy  at  least 
one  hour,  and  it  should  be  supervised  by  a  teacher  of  hygiene.  It  should  come 
from  the  school  kitchen.  Then  should  follow  two  to  three  hours  of  garden  and 
shop  work.  With  this  plan  the  infernal  treadmill  will  be  gone,  and  the  children 
will  rejoice  in  school  life  and  school  work  as  they  rejoice  in  play.  Withal  you 
will  be  creating  healthy,  honest  children,  with  clear  brains,  while  more  will  be 
accomplished  in  the  way  of  mental  acquisition  in  a  single  year  than  in  two  years 
of  the  prevalent  system.  ■•  Stuffed  anthropoids,  most  of  them  with  spinal  or 
brain  disease."  and  few  of  them  thoroughly  sound  throughout,  will  not  make 
first-class  citizens  nor  beautiful  children  of  God.  What  should  a  school  system 
be  for  if  not  to  make  perfectly  healthy  and  sound  men  and  women,  capable  of 
performing  all  the  functions  of  social  life?  Professor  Search  puts  it  grandly 
when  he  says:  "  The  child  needs  life  in  the  sunshine.  He  needs  refreshing  sleep 
and  well-selected,  wholesome  food.  He  needs  normal  hours  for  work.  He  needs 
an  abundance  of  opportunity  for  pent-up  energy  to  express  itself  in  play.  Good 
health  must  be  recognized  as  the  basis,  not  only  of  intellectual  endeavor,  but 
also  of  moral  achievement.  The  normal  body  must  be  the  dwelling  place  of  the 
normal  soul." 

President  Hall,  of  Clark  University,  leads  this  point  still  farther  when  he  says. 
"  He  who  is  true  to  his  body,  which  is  a  temple  of  the  Highest,  can  not  be  unfaith- 
ful to  his  soul."  The  recognition  of  the  fact  that,  during  school  years,  the  boy 
and  the  girl  are  being  carried  by  nature  through  great  changes  of  personality,  of 
function,  and  of  sentiment,  has  been  overlooked  too  long.  Especially  in  our 
country  schools  should  this  neglect  be  remedied.  Earl  Barns  says:  "  There  are 
two  sources  from  which  that  knowledge  which  concerns  our  physical  changes  can 
be  obtained:  One  is  true  and  pure:  the  other  false  and  dirty.  Nineteen-twentieths 
of  children  draw  their  information  about  these  natural  evolutions  from  those  who 
possess  the  morbid,  the  false,  and  the  dirty  views.  The  view  which  these  children 
obtain  is  an  abnormal  one:  and  when  they  develop,  they  use  their  sex  powers 
abnormally.  We  need  to  have  the  laws  of  health,  of  life,  and  of  procreation 
taught  in  our  schools,  and  not  in  the  streets  " — by  educated  teachers  and  not  by 
ignorant  servants.  A  careful  record  of  125  girl  graduates  showed  that  36  passed 
into  womanhood  with  no  knowledge  whatever,  from  a  proper  source,  of  all  that 


113 

makes  them  women;  while  less  than  half  of  the  whole  cumber  had  fell  fn 
talk  to  their  own  mothers  on  this  viral  subject.  N"  school  book  recognizes  these 
functions  or  undertakes  to  make  education  direct  them.  En  our  rural  schools  i1  is 
supremely  importanl  thai  wesee  toil  thai  vicious  teaching  is  supplanted.  The 
true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good  constitute,  together,  the  end  of  education;  not 
simply  to  imparl  facts,  bu1  I  >  open  the  eyes  to  see,  the  muni  to  comprehend,  and 
the  soul  to  rejoice  m  the  beautiful  and  the  good.  That  a  farmer's  boy  or  girl 
should  lack  in  Buch  an  apprehension  is  more  Bhameful  than  that  they  should  lack 
a  knowledge  <»f  arithmetic  and  grammar.  They  are  Burrounded  by  the  beautiful, 
and  should  be  taught  to  appreciate  it.  There  is  nothing  more  beautiful  in  the 
world  than  a  peach  tree  in  fruit:  unless  it  be  an  apple  tree  in  bloom:  unless  it  be 
a  neat  vegetable  garden;  except  hollyhocks  along  the  fences;  except  a  beech  tree 
with  a  boy  shaking  it:  unless,  indeed,  it  he  an  elm  with  three  oriole  nests  hanging 
in  its  limbs:  or  a  clover  field  in  full  bloom,  or  beds  of  old-fashioned  pinks:  unless 
it  be  tlie  boys  and  girls  themselves,  in  the  flush  of  rich  life,  under  the  impn 
pure  thought  and  generous  aspiration. 

In  this  way  the  farmers"  school  educates  to  and  not  from  the  farm.  It  ennobles 
handwork  and  glorifies  toil:  it  leads  to  investigation,  as  weD  as  acquisition  of 
knowledge;  it  applies  all  that  it  teaches:  it  widens  the  outlook:  P  warms  senti- 
ment as  well  as  sharpens  the  intellect.  Beside>  this,  such  a  farmers'  school  shows 
hi-  relation  to  the  community,  and  that  of  the  community  to  the  Republic.  It  is 
a  school  that  glorifies  the  arts  of  peace,  and  the  heroism  of  everyday  duty.  It 
ma'  <  s  the  kitchen  a  vestibule  of  Paradise,  and  the  garden  a  second  edition  of  that 
garden  which  the  Lord  planted  eastward  in  Eden.  What  have  farmers'  associa- 
tions to  do  about  it?  In  the  first  place  they  must  see  plainly  what  is  wanted:  in 
the  second  place  they  must  insist  on  having  it. 

THE  JUDGING  OF  LIVE  STOCK  AS  FARMERS    INSTITUTE  WORK. 

The  discussion  of  this  subject  was  opened  by  G.  C.  Creelman  as  follow-: 
Mr.  Creelman.  In  the  year  1830  the  legislature  of  the  province  of  Ontario 
passed  what  is  known  as  the  Ontario  agricultural  and  arts  act.     Under  this  act 

provision  was  made  for  the  formation  of  agricultural  societies.     The  act  hai 

amended  from  time  to  time,  but  according  to  its  provisions  the  object-  of  the 
district  and  township  societies  are  "to  encourage  improvement  in  agriculture, 

horticulture,  manufactures,  and  useful  arts — 

"(a)  By  importing  and  otherwise  procuring  seeds,  plants,  and  animals  of  new 
and  valuable  kinds: 

'*(&)  By  offering  prizes  for  essays  on  questions  of  scientific  inquiry  relating  to 
agriculture,  horticulture,  manufactures,  and  the  useful  arts: 

"(c)  By  awarding  premiums  for  excellence  in  the  raising  or  introduction  of 
stock,  for  the  invention  or  improvement  of  agricultural  or  horticultural  imple- 
ments and  machinery,  for  the  production  of  grain  and  of  all  kinds  of  vegetables, 
plants,  flowers,  and  fruits,  and.  generally,  for  excellence  in  any  agricultural  or 
horticultural  production  or  operation,  article  of  manufacture  or  work  of  art: 

"(d)  By  carrying  on  experiments  in  the  growing  of  crops,  the  feeding  of  stock, 
or  any  other  branch  of  agriculture,  or  by  testing  any  system  of  farming  through 
arrangement  with  one  or  more  of  the  farmers  of  the  municipality  in  which  the 
society  is  organized. 

Even  the  ordinary  observer  will  note  that  these  are  all  worthy  objects,  but 
unfortunately  our  farmers  have  not  carried  out  the  letter  of  the  law.  and  the  real 
function  of  these  societies  has  become  the  holding  of  an  agricultural  fair  once 
a  year.     In  earlier  years  this  fair  had  a  very  important  place  in  the  life  of  every 

9953— No.  120—02 8 


114 

Ontario  tanner.  H  was  at  this  time  that  they  vied  with  each  other  as  to  who 
could  produce  the  Largesl  and  best  specimens  of  farm  crops.  It  was  a  time  of 
reunion  for  men  and  women:  it  was  a  holiday  gathering  for  people  for  miles 
around,  and  nothing  was  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  attendance  of  tlie  entire 
family  at  the  local  agricultural  fair.  Unfortunately  OUT  fairs  havedeteriorated 
in  the  past  twenty  years,  and  it  has  been  thought  necessary  by  most  of  our  fair 
managers  to  introduce  "■  special '"  attractions  in  order  to  get  the  people  to  attend 
the  fair  at  all.  These  special  attractions  have  been  far  removed  from  anything 
in  connection  with  agriculture,  and  the  result  is  that  to-day  on  many  of  our  fair 
grounds  during  the  progress  of  the  fair  one  would  scarcely  recognize  any  agricul- 
tural features.  Fortunately  this  is  not  true  of  all.  Some  of  our  fair  boards  have 
taken  the  stand  that  educational  features  might  be  substituted  for  special  attrac- 
tions, and  in  introducing  such  features  they  have  met  with  marked  success. 

With  us  in  Ontario  the  breeding  of  pure-bred  live  stock  is  one  of  the  principal 
industries;  in  fact,  no  country  of  its  size  in  the  world  exports  so  many  pure-bred 
animals  as  the  Province  of  Ontario  It  would  naturally  follow,  therefore,  that 
live  stock  should  be  one  of  the  principal  features  at  our  exhibitions. 

There  have  been  complaints  from  among  many  of  our  best  stockmen  that  satis- 
factory judges  were  not  always  provided  at  the  shows.  This  led  the  department 
of  agriculture  for  Ontario  to  investigate  the  condition  of  things  and  suggest  a 
remedy. 

This  year  50  of  our  fairs  are  to  be  arranged  in  circuits,  and  expert  judges  for 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  swine,  and  poultry  are  to  be  sent  from  the  department  of 
agriculture  at  Toronto  to  each  of  these  fairs.  These  judges  are  prepared  in  every 
instance  to  give  their  reasons  for  awards  given,  and  it  is  being  advertised  as  a 
special  feature  of  these  exhibitions.  We  had  one  circuit  last  year,  which  worked 
admirably,  and  I  quote  from  letters  received  from  two  of  the  judges  who  were 
appointed  on  this  circuit.     One  writes: 

•"'  I  should  like  to  state  a  few  of  our  experiences  in  judging  in  the  Ottawa  Valley. 
We  went  into  the  eastern  district  knowing  no  one.  We  were  instructed  to  hew 
closely  to  the  line  and  not  to  show  favors  to  anyone,  but  simply  to  lift  up  the 
standard  we  had  been  taught  to  work  to.  We  endeavored  to  do  that.  As  a 
result,  we  have -since  found  that  our  work  was  appreciated.  All  the  animals 
brought  forward  were  subject  to  criticism,  so  that  you  will  see  that  the  educa- 
tional value  of  the  work  was  great.  I  can  assure  you  that  giving  reasons  for 
awards  is  not  an  easy  task.  You  are  many  times  placed  in  a  delicate  position.  It 
is  a  difficult  task  to  adversely  criticize  an  animal  with  the  owner  standing  close  to 
you.  But  we  found  that  all  the  exhibitors  received  our  criticisms  very  gratefully. 
They  told  us  they  were  satisfied  and  declared  their  intention  of  trying  to  improve 
the  standard  of  their  stock.  One  exhibitor  of  pigs,  for  example,  said  he  saw  just 
where  improvement  was  necessary.  Another  year  you  will  find  these  same  men 
exhibiting  animals  that  come  nearer  to  the  standard." 

Another  judge  writes  as  follows: 

"I  visited  and  judged  at  the  fairs  of  the  Ottawa  Valley  last  fall.  I  was  told 
that  we  would  be  required  to  give  addresses  at  the  ring  side  and  state  our 
reasons  for  the  awards.  We  found  that  a  good  deal  was  expected  of  us.  We 
were  largely  advertised  in  the  local  papers  and  by  posters.  At  the  Russell  County 
fair  I  had  to  judge  209  horses  in  half  a  day.  When  I  saw  how  those  horses  had 
been  fitted  up.  I  concluded  that  there  were  scores  of  men  among  the  exhibitors 
who  knew  as  much  about  horses  as  I  did.  Judging  horses  at  that  fair  was  a 
greater  strain  than  judging  horses  at  the  Toronto  Industrial.  In  one  class  there 
were  four  stallions,  one  of  them  imported.  The  imported  animal  was  put  second, 
and  of  course  there  was  an  immediate  demand  for  the  reason.  This  necessitated 
not  only  bringing  out  the  strong  points  of  the  winning  horse,  but  the  weak  points 


115 

of  the  unsuccessful  one.  A  task  of  that  kind  is  a  difficult  one,  but  I  think  it  is 
the  only  .inst  ami  intelligent  way  to  work.  It  will  do  away  with  the  system  of 
giving  the  prize  to  the  owner  and  not  to  the  animal:  it  will  do  away  with  the  cry 
that  there  is  partiality  shown.  I  see  they  are  trying  to  adopt  this  system  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  No  judge  craght  to  go  into  the  ring  unless  he  is  prepared  to  give 
his  reasons,  and  if  lie  gets  tripped  up  a  time  or  two  it  will  make  him  pretty 
careful." 

In  conclusion  I  would  like  to  give  you  an  illustration  of  how  j  ldging  at  our 
fairs,  followed  up  by  institute  work,  has  helped  one  particular  industry  in  (  hitario. 

We  do  not  grow  corn  to  any  extent  in  Ontario,  and  there  is  a  duty  on  sue!  feed 
stuffs  coming  in  from  the  United  States.  We  can  not  therefore  fatten  our  pigs  as 
cheaply  as  the  people  on  this  side  of  the  line.  Our  country,  however,  seems 
especially  adapted  to  the  growing  of  hogs,  and  a  rapid  demand  springing  up  for 
breakfast  bacon,  our  department  of  agriculture  decided  to  give  all  the  assistance 
possible  to  farmers  engaged  in  this  industry.  The  pork  packers  were  consulted 
as  to  the  kind  of  animals  best  suited  for  the  export  trade,  and  photographs  were 
then  secured  of  the  desirable  and  undesirable  types.  These  photographs  were 
enlarged  and  for  two  years  were  exhibited  at  every  farmers"  institute  meeting  in 
the  province,  and  a  short  talk  given  as  to  the  kind  of  animal  needed  for  this  trade, 
also  how  to  feed  and  breed  the  same.  Following  this  up  judges  were  appointed 
at  our  leading  fairs  and  given  instructions  to  judge  all  hogs  from  a  bacon  stand 
point.  The  result  is  that  we  have  now  practically  but  three  breeds  of  hogs  in 
Ontario — the  Improved  Yorkshire.  Improved  Berkshire,  and  the  Tamworth,  or 
crosses  of  these  three.  Our  farmers  are  getting  7  cents  per  pound,  live  weight, 
for  this  class  of  hog.  and  they  are  turning  it  off  at  from  seven  to  nine  months, 
weighing  from  170  to  220  pounds. 

At  first  a  number  of  our  exhibitors  who  were  breeding  the  short,  thick  hog 
objected  very  much  to  the  decision  of  the  judges,  saying  that  they  were  entirely 
ignoring  breed  points,  and  that  they  were  throwing  out  entirely  animals  that  had 
previously  been  prize  winners.  The  judges,  however,  wTere  firm  in  their  decisions, 
and  the  fair  boards  threw  out  the  protests.  The  result  was.  as  might  be  expected, 
that  the  breeders  changed  their  tactics  entirely,  until,  as  stated  above,  our  hog 
business  is  reduced  to  the  breeding  of  three  breeds  only. 

We  believe  that  similar  results  can  be  brought  about  with  all  kinds  of  stock 
where  competent  judges  are  appointed  and  the  programme  arranged  so  that  the 
judges  will  have  time  to  give  their  reasons  for  their  awrards.  It  will  break  down 
petty  jealousies  among  neighbors:  it  will  show  breeders  what  the  market  demands, 
and  will  encourage  owners  to  get  rid  of  nonprize  winners  and  to  buy  only  from 
those  who.  according  to  the  opinion  of  expert  judges,  have  first-class  stock. 

We  believe  this  to  be  good  institute  work,  as  it  supplements  the  work  of  the 
winter  meetings,  which,  being  held  indoors  in  school  houses  and  town  halls,  must 
necessarily  be  to  a  large  extent  theoretical  in  their  nature. 

Mr.  Martin.  Would  a  word  from  me  be  admissible  relative  to  the  excellent 
paper  to  which  we  have  just  listened?  It  has  formed  part  of  my  work  in  Pennsyl- 
vania to  collect  reports  and  statistics  from  our  agricultural  societies  and  county 
fairs;  and  I  was  especially  interested  in  the  paper  just  read,  relating  as  it  d< 
very  intimately  and  closely  to  the  advancement  of  our  work,  emphasizing  the 
importance  of  premiums  and  encouragement  to  agricultural  products. 

In  Pennsylvania,  for  the  last  two  years,  we  have  arranged  to  have  expert  judges 
for  all  classes  of  home  products.  This  has  worked,  in  many  cases,  a  wonderful 
change — a  wonderful  revolution. 

We  have  not  yet  adopted  the  plan  of  requiring  these  expert  judges  to  give  an 
address  designating  the  reasons  for  their  a  wards  of  premiums.  That .  in  my  judg- 
ment, is  a  most  excellent  recommendation,  and  one  which  ought  to  be  carried  out 
pretty  faithfully. 


116 

The  agricultur  il  fairs  in  Pennsylvania  are  joining  almost  universally  with  the 
farmers"  institutes  in  setting  forth  ih    interests  of  agriculture  and  in  stimulating 

tlim  •         ducts.     This  in 

a  mighty  power  in  the  advanc  menl  of  agriculture  in  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  M    E    rrow.  Mr.  President,  the  subject  of  the  paper  just  read  interests  me 
, ally  more  than  any  other  Bubject  on  the  programme,  although  it  may  be 
looked  upon  by  some  as  rather  outside  of  farmers'  institute  work.     Let  me 

.-on>  for  my  special  interest  in  this  question:  For  some  thirty  years  I  have 
i  >nnected  with  the  agricultural  fairs  in  our  State.     I  have  bi  en  an  exh 

Log  shows  in  the  Northwest,  and  I  have  d  d  deal^of  judging  at 

the  fairs  on  our  side  of  the  line  an  1  a  little  upon  the  Canadian  Bide.     For 
or  twenty  years  I  have  taken  the  ground  that  at  the  time  of  making  awards  we 
should  give  our  reasons  f  .y  making  them.     On  the  occasions  when  thes  ■  awards 
are  made  the  people  stand  around  the  ring  side.     They  want  to  get  an  under- 
standing of  the  merits  of  the  different  breeds  of  the  animals  exhibited.     At  our 
leading  fairs  the  animals  exhibited  are  often  so  nearly  alike  that  the  ordinary 
farmer  can  see  no  difference;  or.  if  he  does.it  often  happens  that  tin-  second  prize 
or  third  prize  animal,  or  the  one  that  receives  no  award,  seems  to  him  batter  than 
the  one  that  takes  the  highest  prize.     So  he  goes  away  from  the  ring  side  b 
ingthat  the  judge  Iris  baen  dishonest  in  giving  his  award—      - 
perhaps  by  personal  friendship  for  the  exhibitor;  or  that  the  judge  is  ignor 
the  matters  on  which  he  pretends  to  be  an  expert:  that  the  fair  managers  have 
made  a  bad  mistake  in  selecting  such  a  judge.     Whichever  may  be  the  idea  with 
which  the  farmer  goes  away,  it  disgusts  him  with  fairs,  and  the  next  year  he  does 
n>t  return. 

Then,  again,  many  exhibitors  are  so  wrapped  up  in  the  qualities  of  their  own 
animals  that  they  fail  to  see  the  good  qualities  of  competing  animals:  but  if  the 
comparative  merits  and  demerits  of  the  competing  animals  can  be  pointed  out  by 
a  competent  judge — and  he  must  be  competent  before  he  undertakes  such  a  busi- 
ness— the  man  who  fails  to  receive  a  prize  will  see  what  has  been  his  mistake,  and 
the  next  time  he  comes  to  the  fair  he  will  present  an  animal  that  is  strong  where 
the  other  was  weak:  and  the  people  who  stand  around  the  ring  or  who  art-  seated 
in  the  pavilion  when  the  awards  are  given  will  thus  receive  an  education  in  this 
matter.  Our  best  farmers  will  congregate  there  to  receive  such  education.  In 
my  own  experience  I  have  seen  the  beneficial  results  of  explanations  made  by  the 
judges  as  to  the  reason  of  their  awards.  A  judge  who  has  the  proper  tact  can 
make  his  explanations  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  giving  offense  to  exhibitors.  He 
must  be  plain  and  at  the  same  time  practical  in  the  use  of  his  language. 

Being  myself  a  superintendent  of  the  farmers*  institute,  a  member  of  the  State 
board  of  agriculture,  and  also  an  exhibitor.  I  feel  a  greater  interest  in  this  subject 
probably  than  many  others  here  do:  but  I  hope  you  will  all  go  home  and  push 
this  matter  in  your  respective  States. 

Mr.  Xall.  I  would  like  to  inquire  from  the  gentleman  on  the  floor  how  he  gets 
over  this  difficulty:  If  the  judge  is  not  himself  a  stock  raiser,  his  explanations 
will  not  be  regarded  as  of  much  value:  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  has  stock  of  his 
own.  he  may  be  considered  as  leaning  toward  his  particular  breed. 
.  Mr.  McKerrow.  At  our  State  fairs  in  Wisconsin  we  have  these  different  breeds 
in  different  classes.  We  do  not  bring  those  of  two  different  classes  together.  At 
county  fairs  where  they  do  bring  them  together,  it  will  require,  of  course,  a  great 
deal  of  discretion  in  the  selection  of  judges.  Though  a  breeder  myself.  I  have 
given  awards  in  favor  of  breeds  that  I  had  no  money  invested  in.  I  think  that 
any  man  fit  to  be  a  judge,  although  he  may  be  breeding  an  opposite  breed,  ought 
t<  >  be  broad  enough  and  well  informed  enough  to  see  the  merits  of  other  breeds. 
If  he  is  not.  he  has  missed  his  calling  as  a  judge. 


117 

M  i-   L  \tt  \.  I  would  like  to  ask,  to  what  extent  has  this  kind  of  work  b  sen  taken 
r.n  of  the  institute  work  in  different  places?    I-  it  done  cinder  the  ans 
of  the  local  or  pro*  Lncial  or  State  ot  districl  fair?    Or  is  it  done  as  a  Sep 
thing  onvenient  time  by  the  institute?    Hasi   been  done  under  thedirecl 

auspices  of  the  institute,  or  simply  in  pursuance  of  institute  methods? 

Mr.  Mi  Ki  i:k<>\\  .  At  the  Waukesha  fair  in  our  State  it   has  been  done  directlj 
under  the  auspices  of  the  institute    The  county  fair  paid  the  expense,  but  it  was 
rtised  as  an  institute  move.    That  is  the  only  way  in  which  I  would  go  into 
>rk  t  licit  . 

Mr.  Latta.  Would  you  recommend  that  this  be  incorporated  as  a  feature  of 
the  fair,  or  would  you  recommend  separation  in  such  cas< 

Mr.  M(  Kerrow.  That  would  depend  a  good  deal  on  what  kind  of  an  arra 
incut  you  could  make  with  the  fair  hoard.     For  the  sake  of  the  institute  and  the 
advertising  which  it  would  give  to  the  institute  and  the  booming  it  would  give  to 
their  work,  I  would  say  have  it  as  an  institute  feature. 
Latta.  you  mean  in  connection  with  the  fair? 

Mr.  Mi  Kerrow.  5Tes,  sir:  certainly — as  a  part  of  the  fair.  We  want  to  lift  up 
the  fairs  in  an  educational  sense.  If  the  institute  worker-  can  help  to  lift  the 
fairs  up  and  make  them  the  means  of  giving  valuahl.  lessons  to  the  people,  that 
is  a  very  desirable  result  to  achieve. 

Mr.  Latta.  1  have  been  under  the  impression  for  years  that  the  explanation  of 
the  award,  the  givingof  reasons  therefor,  is  the  very  capstone  of  the  art  of  educa- 
tion in  the  show  ring. 

Mr.  Spellman.  In  the  State  of  Washington,  whore  our  farmers'  institutes  nearly 
always  hold  two-day  sessions,  we  arrange, if,  for  instance,  the  locality  is  specially 
interested  in  dairy  cows,  that  the  farmers  shall  bring  some  of  their  dairy  cattle 
to  the  institute,  and  on  the  second  afternoon,  about  3  o'clock,  we  adjourn  to  the 
grounds  or  any  other  convenient  place  where  the  cows  can  he  placed  in  a  ring 
and  a  lecture  is  given  on  the  excellences  or  defects  of  the  cows  thus  brought  for 
exhibition.  In  my  judgment,  we  get  a  great  deal  of  good  out  of  that  kind  of 
exercise. 

Sometimes  a  similar  proceeding  is  adopted  with  reference  to  chickens,  some- 
times with  regard  to  hogs,  hut  more  usually  with  dairy  cattle. 

Mr.  McKerROW.  We  have  done  a  good  deal  of  that  kind  of  work  in  Wisconsin. 
I  think  nearly  one-half  of  our  institutes  now  offer  prizes  for  farm  products  or  for 
fine  breeds  of  dairy  cows,  horses,  oxen,  and  sheep.  The  institute  workers  are 
asked  to  do  the  judging.  If  the  day  is  pleasant,  this  is  done  in  the  open  air  before 
the  crowd.  The  reasons  for  the  award  are  always  given,  and  probably  the  dis- 
cussion may  he  continued  in  the  hall. 


' 


INDEX  ()1:  NAMES. 


Amoss,  W.  L.,  7, 11,  14,  25,  57. 

Blodgett,  F.  II..  7. 

Breed,  S.  E  ,7,  ■  ■  56,  91. 

Brigham,  J.  H..  7.  11,  it.  56. 

Cary,  C.  A.,  7.  15,  24,  53 

Coolidge,  J.  II..  7.  20. 

Creelman,  «:.  C,  7.  11,  26,  27.  38,  44,  5:i.  54,  57.  113. 

Dodson,  W.  K..  7.  56. 

Duggar,  B.  M.,  7. 

Hamilton,  J.,  7.  53,  68,  74. 

Hardy.  .1.  ('..  7.  7:;. 

Hartzog,  H.  S.,  7. 

Bostetter,  a.  B.,  7 

Jacobs,  !•:.  -    7  53  >6,  96. 

Jaffa,  Iff;  E.,  7,  16. 

James,  C.  C,  7.  56,  84. 

Kilgore,  B.  W.,  7 

Latta,  W.  C.  7.  11,  13,  21,  22,  23,  27,  53,  76,  107.  117. 

Laughlin,  J.  R.,  7. 

Lee,  •'•  ,;-.  7,  34,  35,  5:;.  5}.  56. 

McDonnell,  H.  R..  7. 

McKerrow,  <;..  7,  11,  --'-J.  31,  32,  :::>.  40,  11.  5 

61,  63,  til.  76,  116,  117. 
Martin,  A.  L.,  7.  53,  64,  65,  66  "7.  115. 
Massey,  W.  F.  7. 
Meng,  .1.  S.,  7. 

Miller.  W.  W.,  7.  1!  7.7:?. 

Myers,  W.  8.,  7. 


Nail.  I.  B.,  7.  _'::.  24,  71.  116. 
Nesom,  < ..  E.,  7. 
Patterson,  II.  .!..  7. 
Patterson,  S.  1.  .  7 

Powell.  F.  I'..  57.  109. 

Powell,  <;.  if.  7. 

Richards,  M.  V..  55,  107. 

Rickes,  P.  F..  7. 

Roosevelt,  T 

Sanders.  N.  .1..  54. 

Silvester,  IF  W.,  7.  15. 

Smith,  »'.  B.,7. 

Spillman,  W.  J.,  7.  13,  44,  •"><>.  65,  117. 

Stewart.  G.  F..  7. 

Stockbridge,  IF  E.,  7.  17.  _».>.  77. 

Stnbenrauch,  a.  J.,  7. 

Tail.  F.  It.    7  ".('.. 

Taliaferro,  W.  T.  F..7. 

Thompson,  J.  1 >..  7.  30,  54,  55,    " 

Tindall,  .1.  E.,  7.  22,  23,  28,  30,  81. 

True.  A.  ('..  7.  33,  5:,,  56,  57.  63,  71.  75.  81,  102 

Van  Deman,  IF  E.,  7,  67. 

Von  Berff,  B.,  7. 

Voorhees,  F.  P..  7.  32,  37,  75,  78,  I 

Webb,  W.,  7.  17.  22,  80. 

Wight,  W.  P..  7. 

Wilson,  J.,  7.  Hi.  56. 

Zinn,  W.  I)..  7. 

110 


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